UK Offshore Round Draws Big Crowd
The UK 31st offshore licensing round attracted 36 applications covering 164 blocks in frontier areas of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). A strong and diverse set of applications came from 35 companies ranging from multinationals to microbusinesses, said offshore regulator, the Oil & Gas Authority (OGA), November 14. The results of the bids will be announced in early Q2 2019, it said.
Acreage offered included the Atlantic Margin, East Shetland Platform, Mid North Sea High and English Channel, with an aggregate area exceeding 370,000 km2.
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Exploration and new ventures head Nick Richardson said the results were "encouraging" and showed that interest in UK offshore licensing opportunities has increased since the 29th frontier round held in 2016, with an almost 50% increase in the number of blocks applied for. The OGA said it has even received applications on some blocks on the East Shetland Platform which have never been previously licenced, "underlining the positive impact of ongoing government-funded data initiatives."
The OGA has published a comprehensive re-evaluation of the UKCS’s Yet-to-Find potential which, he said, points towards an additional exploration resource base of 4.1bn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in prospects and leads and 11.2bn boe in plays, largely in frontier areas, with a bias towards gas-rich opportunities.
But OGA continues to be concerned by low levels of drilling activity, Richardson said, saying that industry "could step up its efforts to explore for new resources, providing enhanced security of domestic supply in the future."
Next up for the OGA is the 31st supplementary round in the Greater Buchan Area, scheduled for Q1 2019, where OGA says there is "a cluster of opportunities in a prime area of the Outer Moray Firth". To support this effort, the OGA will be releasing a package of supporting data, and is encouraging companies to partner up and collaborate in an Area Plan approach to maximise value from the estimated 150-300mn boe. (Update Nov.23: The OGA has released the additional data for Greater Buchan Area here)