GDF Suez Wins Five Licenses in North Sea

As part of the 27th offshore oil and gas licensing round, the Department of Energy and Climate Change has awarded five further Southern North Sea licenses to GDF SUEZ Exploration and Production (E&P) UK; three of them as operator.

“These five licences strengthen our position as a major player in the UK, particularly in the Southern North Sea. They will extend our options for further development in this region by giving us exploration access to interesting new areas of the basin. These new licences integrate perfectly with the GDF SUEZ strategy for a stronger commitment on the UK continental shelf”, said Jean-Claude Perdigues, Managing Director, GDF SUEZ E&P UK.

These five new licenses continue the process of expanding the GDF SUEZ E&P UK portfolio in the North Sea, where it is rapidly becoming one of the UK’s leading offshore exploration and production operators. The Group was also awarded nine licenses last year (three as operator).

GDF SUEZ E&P UK now holds interests in more than 50 licenses on the UK continental shelf, 20 of them as operator in the three key regions of the central North Sea, Southern North Sea and West Shetland.

Gas production from next year onwards

A number of major development projects are underway in the North Sea. One of them – the Juliet project – expects to begin producing gas by the beginning of 2014. GDF SUEZ E&P UK is also the operator for the Cygnus project to develop one of the largest undeveloped gas fields in the North Sea. Located in the southern sector of the North Sea, just over 90 miles offshore, its reserves are estimated at around 18 billion cubic meters. The first gas from this field is expected at the end of 2015.

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LNG World News Staff, December 19, 2013