Five new licences on the UK Continental Shelf
UK, Jun, 04 2019
Equinor has today been awarded five licences by the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) - four as operator and one as partner.
These awards are important in continuing our high levels of exploration activity on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), in support of our ambition to be a leading energy provider to the UK," says Jenny Morris, vice president for exploration UK in Equinor.
The licences are situated in the Moray Firth and East Shetland Platform expanding upon Equinor’s current position in these areas of the North Sea. Equinor was also awarded extension to the Frigg Licence in the Northern North Sea supporting the Frigg redevelopment project. The license awards include commitments for seismic surveys in several areas on the East Shetland Platform and the Moray Firth.
“The UK Offshore Licensing rounds enable us to add new opportunities to our exploration portfolio in a prolific basin, in line with our strategy to unlock the remaining potential in both underexplored and more mature areas. We believe in continued value creation on the UKCS through new discoveries and look forward to our fifth exploration well in 2019, Lifjellet, being drilled later this year,” says Morris.
Equinor is one of the most active explorers in the UK. Last year, in May 2018, Equinor was awarded nine new licences in the 30th Offshore Licensing round, eight as operator.
"We have over the last years as NUKE significantly strengthened our UK portfolio through the 29th and 30th rounds - and now also the 31st round. Bigfoot and Pip from the 29th round have been drilled this year, and Lifjellet from the 30th round is to be drilled later this year. UK is in growth mode; hence our Regional and Access teams have focused on UKCS. It is encouraging to see how the regional efforts under the One North Sea umbrella is delivering new opportunities into our portfolio combining classic regional work, well analytics and competence from across the organisation," says Kjersti Dahle Grov, vice president for NUKE regional & access in Exploration.
In 2019, Equinor is undertaking a five well exploration campaign on the UKCS, a record number for the company. Four of the wells are operated by Equinor.
Morris adds: “Our strategy to unlock the remaining potential is not easy and will require our regional, One North Sea efforts and high-quality maturation work, combined with perseverance and determination. Dry wells are inevitable, but the opportunity set in the UK is high-value and drilling costs are low, positioning us favourably and enabling us to continue to evaluate the remaining potential on the UKCS.”