Petroleum Licensing (Hansard, 18 July 2002)

§ Mr. Wilson

I have decided to award 25 production licences to licence groups made up of 33 different companies. They include six companies acquiring their first offshore licences as well as more familiar names, and range from the super-giants to small new niche players.

It is encouraging that so many companies see further opportunities for investment and development in the North sea's core areas, even after nearly 40 years of

Companies (operator first)	Block(s)	Work Programme—firm commitments unless indicated otherwise: (K) Contingent commitments; (D/D)Drill or Drop commitments	Marks¹
Talisman, Intrepid	14/18c	Reprocess 3D seismic data	83
		1 well (D/D)
EnCana, OMV, Paladin	15/18b, 15/19b	1 well	117
		Reprocess 3D seismic data
		1 well (K)
Kerr McGee, EDC, Enterprise	²15/20a	I well	156
		Reprocess 3D seismic data
		Perform one Front End Engineering and Design Study
		1 well (K)
		Acquire 3D seismic data (K)
OilExCo³	15/25b	Acquire 3D seismic data	42
		Reprocess 3D seismic data
		1 well (D/D)
OilExCo³	15/25c	Acquire 3D seismic data	38
		Reprocess 3D seismic data
		1 well (D/D)
EnCana, Paladin, Tullow, Montrose	15/28c	Reprocess 3D seismic data	71
		I well (D/D)
Phillips, EnCana	16/18b	Reprocess 3D seismic data	78
		1 well (D/D)
EnCana, Intrepid, Edinburgh Oil and Gas	20/2c	Acquire 3D seismic data	91
		Reprocess 3D seismic data
		1 well (K)
EDC, Enterprise, Bow Valley	20/3c, 20/7b, 20/8	1 well	153
		2 wells (K)
		Acquire 3D seismic data
		Reprocess 3D seismic data
Reach	⁴20/10b, 20/15, 21/6a, 21/1 lb	Acquire 3D seismic data	38
		Reprocess 3D seismic data
		I well (D/D)
Kerr McGee	21/5b, 22/lc	I well	111
Chevron, Gaz De France, Ruhrgas	22/2b	Reprocess 3D seismic data	116
		1 well (D/D)
		Acquire 3D seismic data (K)

444W

intensive exploration there. It bodes well for future licensing rounds, which will cover a lot of acreage that, by contrast, is still under-explored and under-exploited. The DTI, with PILOT (formerly the Oil and Gas Industry Task Force), will seek to give every opportunity to small, innovative companies eager to exploit the UK's hydrocarbon resources with new technology. I am particularly delighted to see the response from newcomers who fully understand the potential rewards still to be made in the North sea.

In an effort to concentrate licensees' minds and prevent the appearance of fallow acreage in future, in pursuit of recommendations by PILOT I have made some significant changes to the licences compared with earlier versions. The first two terms will last for four years each instead of six and 12 years respectively, and there will be a mandatory relinquishment of all acreage that is not covered by a development plan at the end of the second term. The Government will also be enabled to publish information three years after receiving it, instead of five (or at licence surrender, whichever is sooner). All this is part of the Government's strategy of bringing together acreage and the companies best fitted to exploit it.

The companies within each licence group (with the operator named first), the blocks covered and a brief resume of the Work Programmes, are as follows:

445W

Companies (operator first)	Block(s)	Work Programme—firm commitments unless indicated otherwise: (K) Contingent commitments; (D/D)Drill or Drop commitments	Marks¹
Amerada Hess, Agip, Dana	23/11	Reprocess 3D seismic data	69
		1 well (D/D)
Phillips, Statoil, TotalFinaElf, Agip	30/20	1 well (D/D)	58
		Acquire 3D seismic data (K)
CNR	⁵30/25	Acquire 3D seismic data	103
		1 well (D/D)
RWE, Consort, Egdon	42/27	Reprocess 3D seismic data	63
		1 well (D/D)
Gaz De France, Tullow, Consort	44/11,44/12	Acquire 3D seismic data	125
		1 well (D/D)
CMS Energy,	44/13	Acquire 3D seismic data	96
		Reprocess 3D seismic data
		1 well (D/D)
Gaz De France, Tullow, Consort	44/16	Reprocess 3D seismic data	87
		1 well (D/D)
Conoco, Gaz De France, Tullow	44/18b, 44/23b	Reprocess 3D seismic data	94
		1 well (D/D)
Conoco, Gaz De France, Tullow	44/28a	Reprocess 3D seismic data	94
		1 well (D/D)
British Gas, Amerada Hess	47/3h	Reprocess 3D seismic data	68
		1 well (D/D)
Warwick⁶	²48–21	Acquire 3D seismic data	57
		1 well (D/D)
		Perform a Front End Engineering and Design study (K)
Shell, Esso	49/12b, 49/13c	Acquire 3D seismic data	84
		Reprocess 3D seismic data
OilExCo³	49/25b, 50/21	Acquire 3D seismic data	45
		Reprocess 3D seismic data
		1 well (D/D)
¹ Marks awarded are not comparable between blocks.
² Only parts of these blocks were available for licensing.
³ Licence offer conditional on creation of a UK (or EU) subsidiary to hold it.
⁴ Only parts of these blocks are awarded.
⁵ That part of 30/25 that includes part of the Ardmore field is awarded to Tuscan by extending Licence P1035. The remainder of the block is awarded to CNR.
⁶ Licence offer conditional on submission of a satisfactory parent company guarantee.