OGA launches 30th Offshore Licensing Round focusing on mature areas of the UKCS

The UK’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has launched the 30th Offshore Licensing Round with 813 blocks or part blocks on offer in mature areas of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). Blocks are on offer in the Southern, Central and Northern North Sea, the West of Shetland and East Irish Sea, featuring a large inventory of prospects and undeveloped discoveries. The round will make use of the new Innovate Licence, developed by the OGA in collaboration with industry to create flexible, variable licences.

Andy Samuel, OGA Chief Executive, noted: ‘We are encouraging companies to take a fresh look at large areas of acreage, some of which has not been available since 1965, and make best use of the recently released information and new data packs to inform their applications.’

The 30th Round closes on 21 November 2017. Decisions are expected to be made in 2Q2018. This round follows on from recent successful rounds, with 12 licences awarded to 10 companies in the Supplementary Round earlier in July and the 29th Offshore Licensing Round which awarded 25 licences for 111 blocks or part blocks to 17 companies for frontier areas of the UKCS in March 2017.

This round will be followed by the 31st Offshore Licensing Round, which is expected to once again focus on frontier areas of the UKCS, including those areas covered by the 2016 UK government-funded seismic acquisition project of South West Britain and the East Shetland Platform. More than 13,500 km of new seismic data and approximately 20,000 km of reprocessed legacy seismic data is scheduled to be released to industry once the current 30th Round has closed.