Det norske to ‘invest heavily’ in Barents Sea

Det norske oljeselskap has been awarded one operatorship and two partnerships in Norway’s 23rd licensing round.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (MPE) announced on Wednesday the awards of new licenses in the 23rd licensing round. Operatorships and participating interests were awarded to 13 companies in a total of 40 blocks in the Barents Sea. Det norske was awarded one operatorship and two partnerships.

Gro G. Haatvedt, SVP Exploration of Det norske, said: “We are very pleased with the awards. They provide Det norske with several exciting opportunities for growth and value creation.”

“Det norske wants to invest heavily in the Barents Sea. It is important to get access to new exploration acreage, as we have now. These awards offer several exciting opportunities, but at the same time there is always a greater risk associated with new areas,” said Haatvedt. She further added they were looking forward to initiating work with the new acreage.

“Through these awards, we see great opportunities for growth and value creation for Det norske. Our goal is to continue going forward to create value on the Norwegian shelf,” said Haatvedt.

Operatorships

Det norske was awarded operatorship of production licence PL858 with a 40 percent interest with Lukoil, Statoil and Petoro as partners. The licence entails a commitment of drilling one firm exploration well. The drilling commitment has to be fulfilled within 3 years of the award.

The company was awarded a 20 percent participating interest in PL 857, operated by Statoil. Det norske, Lundin and Petoro will partner Statoil which has committed to drilling one firm exploration well in that block.

In addition, the company was also awarded a 40 percent participating interest in PL 852 as the sole partner of operator Centrica. Phase 1 of PL 852 activities consist of 3D seismic exploration, after which Centrica will decide whether to drill an exploration well or not.