Subscription accessBlocks announced in Awards in Predefined Areas 2009
On 9 March 2009 the Norwegian
Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/oed.html?id=750)
announced the Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) 2009.
The blocks available for application under the APA 2009 are located
in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea.
The APA 2009 comprises the same predefined areas as the APA 2008,
with no expansion.
The APA
process was developed by the Norwegian Government to attract new and smaller
companies to the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS).
The purpose of the APA rounds is to enhance exploration activities in
mature areas, where expectations are of smaller discoveries which cannot
justify an independent development.
The Ministry states that it is therefore good resource management to
discover and develop these resources before existing infrastructure in
connection to other fields are decommissioned.
APA rounds are also considered important to enhance exploration
activities and employment in the industry and supply industry.
The
first APA round was held in 2003. In the first half of 2002 there were 28
companies with interests on the NCS. However, today 53 companies hold equity
in Norwegian licences.
Map:
The location of
blocks announced in the Barents Sea (turquoise diagonal shading)
Source:
PetroView ®
Map: The location of blocks announced in the Norwegian Sea (turquoise diagonal shading) Source: PetroView®
Map:
The location of
blocks announced in the
Map:
The location of
blocks announced in the
In the APA 2009, applications may be submitted for blocks or part-blocks in
the predefined area which are not already included in a licence at the
deadline date. This entails that
acreage which is relinquished during the application period is regarded as
announced at the time of relinquishment. The
deadline for submission of applications is 15 September 2009, with awards
expected late 2009 to early 2010.