Maersk Oil announces it has been awarded a licence in the Norwegian North Sea as a result of the latest APA Licensing Round.
The licence is a geographical extension of Licence PL501, where operator Lundin and partners Statoil and Maersk Oil made the recent Avaldsnes discovery, into blocks 16/3 and 16/6. The licence holding structure remains the same in this extension; Lundin with 40%, Statoil with 40% and Maersk Oil with 20%.
“We are very pleased with this latest licence award as it helps us to take forward the Avaldsnes discovery, and reiterates our long-term commitment to Norway,” said Maersk Oil Norway Managing Director Morten Jeppesen.
“Our strategy is to grow our business in Norway through exploration activities, participation in licensing rounds and asset acquisitions to build a significant portfolio of exploration and producing assets in the coming years,” Jeppesen said.
The award of the extension helps the licensees to evaluate Avaldsnes and maintain alignment over the wider Avaldsnes area. Two appraisal wells will be drilled by the partnership in 2011.
About Maersk Oil Norway
Maersk Oil Norway began its activities in Norway in 2003 and holds six licenses in the North and the Norwegian seas. It is operator of three licences and will drill its first operated well later this year at Licence PL431. Of the licences it does not operate, Maersk Oil participated in the oil discovery in the Lundin-operated Avaldsnes well and a gas discovery in the RWE-operated Zidane well last year. Maersk Oil has a 20% interest in both.
About Maersk Oil
Maersk Oil is an international oil and gas company with operated production of about 700,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day from fields in the Danish and UK North Sea, offshore Qatar and in Kazakhstan. Maersk Oil exploration activities are ongoing offshore UK, Denmark Norway, Angola, Brazil, the US Gulf of Mexico, Greenland and onshore Oman. Maersk Oil and its subsidiary companies are part of the Danish A.P. Moller – Maersk Group. Maersk Oil was established in 1962, when it was awarded a concession for oil and gas exploration and production in Denmark.
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Source: Maersk, January 19, 2011;