Wintershall continues to gain more exploration acreage in Norway. In the Awards for Predefined Areas (APA) 2017 licensing round, Germany’s largest internationally active oil and gas company received shares in six licenses by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. The company will be operator of three of these. Four of the licenses are in the Norwegian North Sea, one is located in the Norwegian Sea in the extended Aasta Hansteen area, and one is located in the Barents Sea. All licenses are in Wintershall core areas.

“We are grateful to the Norwegian authorities for recognising the strength of our application and our willingness to continue expanding our operations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. With the start-up of Maria at the end of 2017, and the ongoing development of Nova we have shown that we are a strong and reliable performer and turn licenses into producing assets. Gaining good acreage in these licensing rounds is key as we pursue our goal of further organic growth in Norway,” says Hugo Dijkgraaf, Managing Director of Wintershall Norge.

After the award round, Wintershall will hold around 50 licenses in Norway, being operator in over 50%. The company remains one of the major license holders on the shelf. The Ministry awarded a total of 75 licenses to 34 companies in the APA 2017 licensing round.

“This is another strong result for Wintershall. We put together a good application which backs up our willingness to invest in our core areas. The Vøring basin in the extended area around Aasta Hansteen is important to us. The platform is a hub which can help unlock developments in the whole area and we are committed to support extending plateau on the field. At the same time, we still see the possibility for high impact exploration in the Barents,” says Guy Oakes, Head of Exploration at Wintershall Norge.

The award was announced during an industry seminar in Sandefjord, by the Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Terje Søviknes.

The APA 2017 licensing round comprises blocks in predefined areas in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. It covers an overall surface area of 177,170 square kilometres. In total, 39 companies applied for blocks.

Wintershall licenses in the APA 2017:

North Sea:
PL 153C, Wintershall Norge AS 20%
PL 777D, Wintershall Norge AS 20%
PL 914S, Wintershall Norge AS 6.4615%
PL 927, Wintershall Norge AS 50%, Operator

Norwegian Sea:
PL 944, Wintershall Norge AS 40%, Operator

Barents Sea:
PL 953, Wintershall Norge AS 40%, Operator

Tags: Wintershall