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Oslo hands out 52 licences



By Upstream staff 

Norway has handed out 52 new oil and gas licences in mature areas of the Norwegian continental shelf to 37 companies, energy officials said today.

The acreage was offered under Norway's system of awards in predefined areas (APA), a yearly licensing round for mature areas of the shelf, often close to existing infrastructure and meant to spur petroleum activity and production.

"All 37 companies which were offered production licences in the awards in predefined areas 2007 have accepted," the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said in a statement.

The awards comprised 24 licences in the North Sea, 21 in the Barents Sea and seven in the Barents Sea in the Arctic.

Licences went to global majors such as ExxonMobil , Shell and Total , Norway's own StatoilHydro and to minnows including Revus Energy , Lundin Petroleum and PA Resources .

Nineteen companies were offered operatorships, with StatoilHydro getting the most with nine operatorships.

The list of licensees is available in a statement released by the Oil Ministry and available here.

The list includes several gas and utility groups that have increasingly sought in recent years to secure their own gas resources, such as Britain's BG and Centrica , Germany's E.ON Ruhrgas and Gaz de France .


Friday, 29 February, 2008, 14:31 GMT  | last updated: Friday, 29 February, 2008, 14:31 GMT

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