Shell, Equinor, bp, Total and NEO are among the 17 separate companies who will carry out seismic studies after being offered a total of 24 licences in the second tranche of the UK 33rd Oil and Gas Licensing round.
These awards follow the 27 licences offered in the first allocation made in October last year.
The 74 blocks and part-blocks offered this time are all in the Central North Sea, Northern North Sea, and West of Shetland areas.
The remaining blocks, the majority in the Southern North Sea and East Irish Sea, will be offered when environmental evaluations, including Habitat Regulation Assessment, Appropriate Assessments, have been finalised by OPRED.
The 33rd Licensing Round opened in October 2022 with more than 900 blocks being made available. The application window closed in January 2023 with 115 bids from 76 companies.
Internal NSTA analysis shows that the average time between licensing and first production is now close to five years, which means that licences awarded now could be producing before the end of the decade.
PGS data covers 21 of 24 areas offered for award in Tranche 2 of the UK 33rd Round. ‘Reliable data analysis supports assessments of licensing opportunities and enables an accelerated timeline from license award to production.’
Awards come with firm work commitments for seismic studies. On Block 15/13c and 15/18c in the Central North Sea Anasuria Hibiscus will obtain and reprocess seismic data. On 23/16d and 23/17 in the Central North Sea bp will obtain and reprocess seismic data. On 22/24f and 22/25e in the Central North Sea Deltic Energy will obtain seismic data. On 16/22b Deltic will obtain and reprocess seismic data. On 16/22b Eni Elgin/Franklin will obtain and reprocess seismic data. On 3/10c 3/14f 3/15f 3/19d 3/20c in the Central North Sea Equinor will obtain and reprocess seismic data. On 205/1b 205/2b 205/3 205/6 205/7 213/23 213/24a 213/28 213/29a West of Shetland Equinor will acquire seismic data contingent on drilling. On 29/16 29/17 29/18 29/19 29/21 29/22 29/23 29/27 29/28. Orcadian will obtain seismic data. On 21/1b 21/6a 21/7b in the Central North Sea Ping Petroleum will obtain and interpret seismic data. On 21/1b 21/6a 21/7b Shell will obtain and reprocess seismic data. On 213/15b 213/19 213/20 213/24b 213/25 213/29b 213/30a 214/11b 214/16 214/21 in the Northern North Sea TotalEnergies will obtain seismic data. On 22/12b and 29/7b Harvester Energy will obtain and reprocess seismic data. On 15/22b and 15/23b Neo Energy will reprocess seismic data. On 21/25c and 22/21d Neo Energy will obtain and reprocess seismic data. On 15/27a and 15/28a Neo Energy will reprocess seismic data. On 211/11 and 211/16b in the Northern Sea Neo Energy will obtain seismic data. On 20/28 20/29 20/30a 21/26a North Sea Natural Resources will acquire seismic data contingent on desktop studies.
Shell, Equinor, bp, Total and NEO are among the 17 separate companies who will carry out seismic studies after being offered a total of 24 licences in the second tranche of the UK 33rd Oil and Gas Licensing round.
These awards follow the 27 licences offered in the first allocation made in October last year.
The 74 blocks and part-blocks offered this time are all in the Central North Sea, Northern North Sea, and West of Shetland areas.
The remaining blocks, the majority in the Southern North Sea and East Irish Sea, will be offered when environmental evaluations, including Habitat Regulation Assessment, Appropriate Assessments, have been finalised by OPRED.
The 33rd Licensing Round opened in October 2022 with more than 900 blocks being made available. The application window closed in January 2023 with 115 bids from 76 companies.
Internal NSTA analysis shows that the average time between licensing and first production is now close to five years, which means that licences awarded now could be producing before the end of the decade.
PGS data covers 21 of 24 areas offered for award in Tranche 2 of the UK 33rd Round. ‘Reliable data analysis supports assessments of licensing opportunities and enables an accelerated timeline from license award to production.’
Awards come with firm work commitments for seismic studies. On Block 15/13c and 15/18c in the Central North Sea Anasuria Hibiscus will obtain and reprocess seismic data. On 23/16d and 23/17 in the Central North Sea bp will obtain and reprocess seismic data. On 22/24f and 22/25e in the Central North Sea Deltic Energy will obtain seismic data. On 16/22b Deltic will obtain and reprocess seismic data. On 16/22b Eni Elgin/Franklin will obtain and reprocess seismic data. On 3/10c 3/14f 3/15f 3/19d 3/20c in the Central North Sea Equinor will obtain and reprocess seismic data. On 205/1b 205/2b 205/3 205/6 205/7 213/23 213/24a 213/28 213/29a West of Shetland Equinor will acquire seismic data contingent on drilling. On 29/16 29/17 29/18 29/19 29/21 29/22 29/23 29/27 29/28. Orcadian will obtain seismic data. On 21/1b 21/6a 21/7b in the Central North Sea Ping Petroleum will obtain and interpret seismic data. On 21/1b 21/6a 21/7b Shell will obtain and reprocess seismic data. On 213/15b 213/19 213/20 213/24b 213/25 213/29b 213/30a 214/11b 214/16 214/21 in the Northern North Sea TotalEnergies will obtain seismic data. On 22/12b and 29/7b Harvester Energy will obtain and reprocess seismic data. On 15/22b and 15/23b Neo Energy will reprocess seismic data. On 21/25c and 22/21d Neo Energy will obtain and reprocess seismic data. On 15/27a and 15/28a Neo Energy will reprocess seismic data. On 211/11 and 211/16b in the Northern Sea Neo Energy will obtain seismic data. On 20/28 20/29 20/30a 21/26a North Sea Natural Resources will acquire seismic data contingent on desktop studies.
