The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has awarded Statoil operatorship on blocks 16/2 and 16/3 in the North Sea licensing round for 2000. These blocks were the group's first choice.
"A feather in the cap for Statoil's specialists," comments Yngve Vassmyr, who is responsible for exploration in the new areas core area. He believes that profitable finds can be made in this acreage. Statoil applied for operatorship in collaboration with ExxonMobil and Enterprise Oil.
"This award shows that the technical efforts underpinning our application have been successful. A lot of work has been done over a long period of time and it is very gratifying when we achieve results like this," says Mr Vassmyr.
He points out that this new operatorship will strengthen Statoil's exploration portfolio and it will entail new and interesting tasks for the organisation.
Statoil was unsuccessful in its application to participate in block 35/1 in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
See the press release for the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.