New quality acreage on the Norwegian continental shelf

"These are very positive news for Statoil and the whole industry. Access to new quality acreage is essential to ensure continued exploration activity and value creation on the NCS,” says Irene Rummelhoff, senior vice president for NCS exploration in Statoil.

“We are pleased with the APA 2014 award of new acreage in mature areas enabling us to prove additional time-critical resources around existing production hubs. We also welcome the announcement of blocks in the 23rd concession round, in particular the new acreage in the Barents Sea South-East which is an important contribution to further exploration in frontier areas of the NCS," says Rummelhoff.

Statoil is positive to the work the authorities are now initiating in order to expand the knowledge base related to sea ice data.

In APA 2014, Statoil has been awarded new licences in all three NCS provinces:

North Sea

• 80% ownership and operatorship in PL783 and 20% ownership in PL782S west of Balder. This is new acreage with significant volume potential on the eastern flank of the South Viking Graben in a prolific oil prone area. The location and size of the main prospect makes it a very interesting candidate in Statoil’s portfolio. PL782S is stratigraphically split and limited upwards by Base Cretaceous.
• 50% ownership and operatorship in PL772. This is new acreage in a prolific area to the north of the King Lear discovery.
• 51% ownership and operatorship in licence extension PL025B.
• 30% ownership in licence extension PL044C.
• 62% ownership and operatorship in licence extension PL046E.
• 50% ownership and operatorship in licence extension PL072E.

Norwegian Sea

• 40% ownership and operatorship in PL794 and 20% ownership in PL795. These are exciting licences in the vicinity of Njord with prospectivity of various play models.
• 40% ownership and operatorship in PL796. This is a new near infrastructure licence east of Mikkel. Acreage around Njord and Mikkel is important for feeding existing infrastructure with new volumes as tie-in developments. We also see significant upside potential in the area.
• 20% ownership in PL798 and PL799. This is promising gas prone acreage west of Skarv with follow-up possibilities.
• 42% ownership and operatorship in licence extension PL159E.
• 50% ownership in licence extension PL127B.

Barents Sea

• 50% ownership in PL803 - a new licence in the Tromsø basin. We see exciting opportunities in the area, particularly in some of the more under-explored plays.