UK 25th Offshore Licensing Round awards

On 12 November 2008 Energy Minister, Mike O'Brien, announced 171 new licences, covering 257 blocks and part-blocks, were being offered to 100 companies under the 25^th Offshore Licensing Round. This is the highest number of licences to be offered in a UK offshore licensing round and represents an increase of 14% on the number of licences awarded in the 24^th Licensing Round.

The 25^th Licensing Round was opened on 20 February 2008, when 2,297 blocks were opened for application. In June 2008 it was announced that 193 applications had been made by a total of 131 companies. Following a screening exercise, it was decided that 46 of the blocks applied for should be subject to more detailed assessments of the likely effects of oil and gas activities on certain protected nature conservation areas. A decision on whether to grant licences for these blocks will be subject to the results of the environmental assessments.

	21st Licensing	22nd Licensing	23rd Licensing	24th Licensing	25th Licensing
	Round	Round	Round	Round	Round
Blocks for application
Blocks/part-blocks	611	1039	1326	1409	2297
Offered Awards
Blocks/part-blocks	137	163	259	246	257
Traditional licences	35	32	70	79	124
Promote licences	53	58	75	65	41
Frontier licences	n/a	7	6	6	6
Companies	62	58	87	104	100
New Entrants	27	13	28	17	8

Commenting on the awards, Energy and Climate Change Minister, Mike O'Brien, said: “We are now seeing record interest from companies wishing to exploit the UK's considerable oil and gas resources in the North Sea.

Whilst there's not an endless supply of North Sea oil and gas, with up to 20 billion barrels, or more, left under the sea we can't overlook its contribution to our security of energy supply as well as to our economy.

“The oil and gas sector is one of the UK's most important industries and this latest result can only reinforce and maintain this position. While we work to develop low carbon sources of energy, oil and gas will continue to be an important source of energy for the UK. And that's why our ambition is to squeeze as much oil and gas out of the North Sea as is possible.”

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Venture has been the most successful company, in terms of operated licences awarded under the 25^th Licensing Round. The company has been awarded a total of 12 licences, located in the Central North Sea and Southern North Sea.

Under the work commitments of the 25^th Round licences are obligations to drill 34 firm wells and 16 contingent wells.

25th Offshore Licensing Round Awards
Blocks offered in licence	Operator	Partners	Licence type	Firm obligations	Contingent obligations
2/10a 2/15b	Antrim		Promote	Obtain 2D Obtain 3D	Drill or drop
2/20 3/16	Silverstone	Wilderness	Promote	Obtain & reprocess 2D	Drill or drop
3/3b	Ithaca	MPX Revus	Traditional	1 firm well Reprocess 3D
3/8d	Fairfield		Traditional	1 firm well Obtain 3D
3/11a	Lundin		Traditional	1 firm well Obtain & reprocess 3D
3/22	Nautical	Canamens Rocksource	Traditional	EM feasibility	Drill or drop
3/23b	MPX		Promote		Drill or drop
3/26	Nautical	Canamens Rocksource	Traditional	EM feasibility	Drill or drop
8/25b (split)	Canamens	Celtic Nautical	Traditional	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
8/25b (split) 8/30 (split)	Mariner		Promote	Obtain & reprocess 2D Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
9/2c	Nautical	Canamens Celtic	Traditional		To be confirmed
9/4a (part)	Corsair		Promote		To be confirmed
9/6	Nautical	Canamens Celtic	Traditional	Shoot HR 2D Obtain 2D Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
9/7 9/12b	Silverstone	Wilderness	Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D Acquire CSEM	1 contingent well
9/8b	Lundin	NORECO	Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
9/9d (split)	Lundin	Genesis	Traditional		To be confirmed
9/9d (split)	MPX		Traditional	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
9/10c	Sagex	First Oil	Traditional	1 firm well Obtain 2D Obtain & reprocess 3D
9/21 (split)	ATP	MOST	Traditional	1 firm well
9/21 (split) 9/26 9/27b (split)	Valiant	Century Silverstone	Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 2D Obtain 3D EM feasibility	Drill or drop
9/27b (split)	EnCore		Promote	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
13/17	Fox Energy	Aimwell	Traditional	1 firm well
13/22b	Chrysaor		Traditional		Drill or drop
13/23a	Bow Valley	Sumitomo Reach	Traditional	1 firm well Reprocess 3D
13/27e	Petro-Canada	NORECO Silverstone	Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
13/29c	EOG		Traditional	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
14/13	Silverstone	NORECO	Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D Acquire CSEM	Drill or drop
14/25b 15/21e (split)	Petro-Canada	Silverstone	Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
14/26b	Zeus	Aimwell	Traditional	1 firm well
14/28c 14/29c (split)	Black Sapphire		Promote	Obtain 2D Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
14/29c (split) 14/30b (split)	EnCore		Promote		Drill or drop
14/30b (split)	Nexen	Oilexco	Traditional		1 contingent well
15/7 15/12a	Silverstone	Wilderness	Traditional	Reprocess 2D Reprocess 3D Acquire CSEM	Drill or drop
15/8	Silverstone	Wilderness	Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 2D Acquire CSEM	Drill or drop
15/18c	Silverstone	Wilderness	Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 2D Reprocess 3D Acquire CSEM	Drill or drop
15/19c (split)	Maersk		Traditional	2 firm wells
15/19c (split) 15/20d	Sable		Promote	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
15/21e (split)	EnCore	Nautical Serica	Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
15/23e	Nexen	Oilexco	Traditional	Obtain 3D	1 contingent well
15/26a	Oilexco		Traditional	1 firm well Obtain 3D
15/30b	Oilexco		Traditional	1 firm well Obtain 3D
16/1b 16/2c	Excelsior		Promote	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
16/6b	Carrizo	MPX	Traditional	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
16/12b	Dana		Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
16/13b	Bow Valley		Traditional	Obtain LO 2D Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
19/10b 19/15	Mahona		Promote	Obtain & reprocess 2D	Drill or drop
20/3f	Nexen	Atlantic Bow Valley	Traditional		Drill or drop
20/5b (split)	Silverstone	NORECO	Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
20/5b (split) 20/10	Black Sapphire		Promote	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
20/7	Carrizo	MPX	Traditional	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
20/8 (split)	Nexen		Traditional		Drill or drop
20/8 (split) 20/9b	Black Sapphire		Promote	Obtain 2D Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
20/15 (split)	Stratic		Traditional	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
20/15 (split) 21/11b (split)	Apache		Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
20/30 21/26	Sable		Promote	Obtain 2D Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
21/3f	Nexen		Traditional		1 contingent well
21/6b	Carrizo		Promote	Obtain 2D Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
21/11b (split)	Endeavour	Lundin Revus	Traditional	1 firm well
21/12b (split)	EOG		Traditional	1 firm well
21/12b (split) 21/13a (split)	Lundin	Challenger Revus	Traditional	1 firm well
21/13a (split)	Bow Valley		Traditional	1 firm well
21/20c	Dana	Venture	Traditional		1 contingent well
21/20e	Dana	Venture	Traditional		Drill or drop
21/21 21/22	Revus		Traditional	Shoot HR 2D Reprocess 3D	1 contingent well
21/24b	Oilexco		Traditional	1 firm well Obtain 3D
21/24c	Antrim		Promote	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
21/27b	Revus		Traditional	1 firm well Reprocess 3D
21/28b 21/29c	Antrim		Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D LMR inversion	1 contingent well
22/1a	Venture	MPX	Traditional	1 firm well Reprocess 3D	1 contingent well
22/9b	Carrizo	E.On Ruhrgas NORECO	Traditional	Obtain 3D	Drill or drop
22/19c	Venture	MPX	Traditional	1 firm well Reprocess 3D
22/24e	Talisman		Traditional	1 firm well Obtain 3D
22/26b	Talisman	Venture	Traditional	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
22/27b	REAP		Promote	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
22/28b	REAP		Promote	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
22/29c (split)	Talisman		Traditional	1 firm well Obtain 3D
22/29c (split)	Maersk	Dana	Traditional	1 firm well
22/30d	REAP		Promote	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
23/11b	EOG		Traditional	Shoot 3D	Drill or drop
23/26c (split)	Oilexco		Traditional	1 firm well Obtain 3D
26/5 26/10 27/1	Deliverit		Promote	Obtain & reprocess 2D	Drill or drop
29/1c	Oilexco	Petro Summit Reach	Traditional	1 firm well Obtain & reprocess 3D	1 contingent well
29/2e	REAP		Promote	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
29/2f	REAP		Promote	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
29/2g	REAP		Promote	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
29/3b	Total	E.On Ruhrgas	Traditional	1 firm well Obtain & reprocess 3D
29/4b (split) 29/5e	Ithaca		Traditional	Shoot LO 3D Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
29/4b (split) 29/9c (split)	Shell	ExxonMobil	Traditional		Drill or drop
29/6a	First Oil	Sagex	Traditional	1 firm well Obtain & reprocess 3D
29/7b	Oilexco		Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D
29/8c	REAP		Promote	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
29/9c (split)	Venture	MPX	Traditional	Reprocess 3D	1 contingent well
29/10b	Maersk	Ithaca	Traditional	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
29/23	ConocoPhillips		Traditional	Shoot 2D	Drill or drop
29/30	ConocoPhillips		Traditional		Drill or drop
30/1f	GDF SUEZ	Centrica Endeavour OMV RWE	Traditional	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
30/7b	ConocoPhillips	BG	Traditional	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
30/11c	Petro-Canada	NORECO Silverstone	Traditional	Obtain & reprocess LO 3D	Drill or drop
30/12c	CGGVeritas		Promote		Drill or drop
30/18b	Valiant		Traditional	1 firm well Obtain & reprocess 3D
30/18c	Sussex		Promote		Drill or drop
30/29	CGGVeritas		Traditional		Drill or drop
35/21	TGS-NOPEC		Promote	Reprocess 2D	Drill or drop
38/4	CGGVeritas		Promote		Drill or drop
39/2b	Nexen		Traditional	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
42/10 42/15	Sterling Res	Petro-Ventures Stratic Energy	Traditional	1 firm well Obtain 2D & shoot 3D Shoot pseudo 3D & Reprocess 2D
42/29c 42/30c 47/5b (split)	Silverstone	Wilderness	Traditional	Shoot 3D Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
42/30b	Focus		Promote		Drill or drop
43/22b	Venture	Volantis	Traditional		Drill or drop
43/26b	E.On	Dana	Traditional		Drill or drop
43/27b
43/28	Venture	Ithaca Volantis	Traditional		Drill or drop
43/29	Venture	Ithaca Volantis	Traditional		Drill or drop
43/30b	Holywell		Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
44/26b	Venture	Volantis	Traditional		Drill or drop
44/26c	Venture	Volantis	Traditional		Drill or drop
44/28a	Venture	Volantis	Traditional		Drill or drop
44/29c	GDF SUEZ	Faroe RWE	Traditional	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
47/4d 47/5b (split)	Dana		Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D	1 contingent well
47/5b (split)	CalEnergy	Challenger Endeavour Hunt	Traditional		To be confirmed
48/1c (split)	CalEnergy	Challenger Endeavour Hunt	Traditional		Drill or drop
48/1c (split)	EnCore	Bharat EnCore NNS Norwest Tata Petrodyne	Traditional		Drill or drop
48/2b 48/3b	E.On	Dana	Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
48/5	Volantis		Promote		Drill or drop
48/7e	Venture	Volantis	Traditional		Drill or drop
48/7f (split)	Centrica	Sojitz	Traditional		To be confirmed
48/7f (split)	Venture	Volantis	Traditional		Drill or drop
48/10c	RWE	Euroil E.On	Traditional	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
48/16a (part)	Serica		Traditional		Drill or drop
49/3	Venture	Volantis	Traditional		Drill or drop
49/15b	Holywell		Promote	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
49/29c (split)	Silverstone		Promote	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
49/29c (split)	Swift	Stelinmatvic	Promote	Obtain 3D	Drill or drop
49/29c (split) 49/30b (split)	Volantis		Promote		Drill or drop
49/30b (split) 50/26b	Volantis	SEQ	Promote	Obtain 3D	Drill or drop
53/3e 53/4g	First Oil		Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D	1 contingent well
53/4c	Volantis		Promote		Drill or drop
53/5c 53/10 (part) 54/1a (part) 54/6 (part)	Norfolk Res		Promote	Obtain & reprocess 2D Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
53/14 (part) 53/15 (part)	Swift		Promote		Drill or drop
110/2d	Serica		Traditional	Reprocess 3D	1 contingent well
204/18 (split)	Maersk		Traditional	Acquire CSEM & reprocess 3D	1 contingent well
204/18 (split)	Valiant	Sussex Energy	Traditional	1 firm well
205/3 205/4 (split)	Nexen	Dana	Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
205/4 (split)	Total	Chevron DONG ENI	Traditional	Shoot 3D	Drill or drop
205/6 205/7 205/11	DONG	Chevron	Frontier	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
206/5b 207/1b	Valiant	Sussex Energy	Traditional	Shoot 2D	Drill or drop
206/11b (part) 206/12b 206/16 (part) 206/17 (part)	BP	Britoil Chevron ConocoPhillips Enterprise Hess	Traditional	Shoot 3D Acquire gravity & magnetic data	1 contingent well
208/12 208/13b 208/17 208/18b 208/19b	DONG	Dana GDF SUEZ	Traditional	Shoot 3D	Drill or drop
208/20b 208/22 208/23 208/24 208/25 208/27 208/28 209/16 209/17	DONG	Dana GDF SUEZ	Traditional	Shoot 3D	Drill or drop
208/21	Hurricane	Faroe Sunshine	Frontier	Obtain 2D & 3D	Drill or drop
210/1 210/2	Rocksource		Frontier	Obtain 2D	Drill or drop
210/3 210/4 210/5 210/8 210/9 210/10 219/29 219/30 220/26	Lundin	Genesis	Frontier	Shoot LO 2D & 3D Obtain LO 2D	Drill or drop
210/19b 210/20e 210/24c	Nexen	Apache	Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
210/23 (part) 210/28 (part) 210/29b (split)	Dana		Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D	1 contingent well
210/25b	Valiant		Traditional	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
210/29b (split) 210/30b	Valiant		Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
211/6 211/7b 211/8b (split)	Nexen		Traditional	Shoot LO 2D Obtain & reprocess 2D	Drill or drop
211/8b (split) 211/13c	Valiant		Tradional	1 firm well
211/11b	Ithaca	Revus	Traditional	1 firm well
211/16b		MPX		Reprocess 3D
211/12b	Elixir		Tradional	Obtain & reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
211/24c	Fairfield		Traditonal	Reprocess 3D	Drill or drop
211/27d (part)	DNO	Elixir Rocksource	Promote		To be confirmed
211/27e	Fairfield		Traditional	1 firm well Reprocess 3D
211/28b	Valiant		Traditional	1 firm well Reprocess 3D
213/8 213/12 213/13 213/18	Sagex		Frontier	Obtain 2D Trial reprocessing	Drill or drop
213/24b	Nexen		Traditional	Obtain LO 2D Obtain 3D	Drill or drop
214/17 214/21b 214/22	Total	DONG ENI	Traditional	Reprocess 3D	1 contingent well
219/9 219/13 219/14 219/18 219/19	GDF SUEZ		Frontier	Obtain & reprocess 2D	Drill or drop
219/10 219/15 219/20 220/26	GDF SUEZ		Traditional	Obtain & reprocess 2D	Drill or drop
220/27	Nexen		Traditonal	Obtain 3D	Drill or drop

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Map: Showing the Traditional (green shading), Promote (pink shading) and Frontier (purple shading) licences awarded under the 25^th Licensing Round. Source: PetroView®

To view further details of the 25^th Offshore Licensing Round go to www.og.berr.gov.uk/upstream/licensing/25_rnd/index.htm

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UK 25th Offshore Licensing Round awards

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