OKEA takes operatorship of license near Draugen field

Norwegian oil and gas company OKEA has taken over Shell’s 50% working interest and operatorship of production license (PL) 958 in the Norwegian Sea.

OKEA said on Thursday that the acreage was in the exploration phase and that data coverage was limited.

The license is located on the Trøndelag Platform, ten kilometers east of the Draugen Field, where OKEA is the operator and east of PL 1001 where OKEA is a partner.

The other license partners are Neptune and Petoro which hold 30 and 20 percent stakes respectively. The same companies are OKEA’s partners on the Draugen field.

Andrew McCann, SVP of subsurface in OKEA, said: “This position in PL958 strengthens our presence in the Draugen Area. We believe that the large license can contain a continuation of the Draugen geological trend and that there are interesting opportunities which could significantly expand the resource base for Draugen in the future.”

To remind, Shell’s Norwegian entity, A/S Norske Shell, reached an agreement with OKEA to sell its entire 44.56% interest in the Draugen field and a 12% interest in Gjøa for NOK 4.5 billion ($525M) in June last year.

OKEA completed the acquisition and took over operatorship of Draugen in late November 2018.