NSTA offers 31 licenses for North Sea E&P in latest round

Deltic Energy, Horizon Energy, INEOS and Perenco UK were among 14 separate companies offered 31 licenses in the third tranche of the latest oil and gas licensing round from the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA). These awards follow the 24 licenses offered in the second allocation from January 2024.

82 offers to 50 companies have now been made in the round, which attracted 115 bids from 76 companies across 257 blocks and part blocks.

The 31 offers in the final tranche come from 29 new licenses and two merges, with the licenses covering the Southern North Sea, Central North Sea and East Irish Sea. Of the 29 new licenses, 23 are initial term Phase A or B, two will be Initial Term Phase C (firm wells) and the remaining four will go straight to second term, meaning they can theoretically go into production more quickly.

Phase A is for conducting geotechnical studies and geophysical data reprocessing; Phase B is undertaking seismic surveys and acquiring other geophysical data; and Phase C is drilling.

Following discussions with partners in The Crown Estate and Crown Estate Scotland, the NSTA has introduced a new clause for overlapping oil and gas licenses and wind leases for the first time. This will be the main commercial mechanism for these licenses to resolve spatial overlaps and support these industries’ co-existence.

Further consideration is being given to a small number of remaining applications and a few more licenses may be offered at a later date.