Tim Dodson (Photo: Harald Pettersen)
"We are very pleased with the award, which gives us new important exploration acreage close to existing SH-operated infrastructure offshore," says Tim Dodson, head of explorations on the Norwegian continental shelf.
The Norwegian government discussed the proposal for awards in the APA 2007 licensing round on 8 February.
The offer submitted to the oil companies includes 52 production licences in areas already opened for petroleum activities, where fishery-related and environmental concerns have been addressed.
24 of the production licences are awarded in the North Sea, 21 in the Norwegian Sea and seven in the Barents Sea. StatoilHydro has been awarded interests in four production licences in each of these three ocean areas.
"The new exploration acreage is aimed to help maintain StatoilHydro's production on the Norwegian continental shelf, ensuring that we can meet our ambition of producing some 1.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day over the next ten years," Dodson says.
Among the production licenses that StatoilHydro is offered Dodson particularly draws attention to two licences in the Barents Sea located close to the Snøhvit field northwest of Hammerfest.
StatoilHydro is the operator of licence 488 with a 33.53 percent interest, whereas Eni is the operator of licence 492, where StatoilHydro has a 40 percent interest.
"The two licences are located close to areas where gas has been discovered. Our goal is to find more gas that may be a valuable additional resource during the further development of Snøhvit," Dodson says.