German firm scoops seven awards in Norwegian licensing round

Germany’s largest internationally active oil and gas producer Wintershall has been awarded interest in seven production licenses on the Norwegian Continental Shelf by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

Wintershall will be the operator on four of these. As part of the latest licensing round APA 2015 (Awards in Predefined Areas), the BASF subsidiary was awarded one operated license in the Barents Sea, three licenses (two operated) in The Norwegian Sea and three (one operated) in the North Sea.

After the award, Wintershall says it will hold more than 60 licenses in Norway, operating over half. The Ministry awarded a total of 56 licenses to 36 companies in the APA 2015 licensing round.

“Wintershall follows a long-term goal on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Our discoveries Asha, Maria and Skarfjell represent a basis for this. We appreciate the confidence we have been shown by the Norwegian authorities in yet again awarding us promising licenses,” said Bernd Schrimpf, Wintershall Norge Managing Director.

The latest award makes Wintershall the fourth highest holder of production licenses in the country. From the first APA round in 2003, the APA area has been expanded several times and for the APA 2015 comprised a total of 127,608 square kilometers, an increase of 18,403 square kilometers from APA 2014.

New Wintershall licenses APA 2015:

– North Sea: PL 678 BS (35%, operator), PL 777 B (20%), PL 820 S (30%);

– Norwegian Sea: PL 847 (40%, operator), PL 836 S (40%, operator), PL 845 (20%);

– Barents Sea: PL 768 B (30%, operator).