Eight operatorships and interests in three production licences have been awarded to Statoil in the TFO 2004 round, which covers blocks in predefined areas of the Norwegian continental shelf. Three of the production licences constitute additional acreage to existing licences.
"We're very pleased with the awards," reports Tim Dodson, Statoil's senior vice president for exploration in the Exploration & Production Norway business area.
Statoil has an aggressive exploration strategy and wants to step up its exploration activities in coming years. The group therefore needs new exploration acreage.
These holdings include one operatorship in the Barents Sea, four in the Norwegian Sea and three in the North Sea, as well as one licence interest in the Norwegian Sea and two in the North Sea.
"This is a comprehensive award which could help increase production on, and extend the lifetime of, existing installations in both the North and Norwegian Seas," explains Mr Dodson. "The allocation of a new production licence in the Hammerfest Basin could form the basis for further developing Snøhvit and is therefore of great importance to Statoil's commitment in the Barents region."