(Source: T. Schneider / Shutterstock.com)
Britain's first oil and gas exploration licensing round since 2019 attracted 115 bids, up from 104 in the last round, with the licenses likely to be awarded from the second quarter, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) said on Jan. 17.
Britain's government is looking to boost domestic hydrocarbon output as Europe weans itself off Russian fuel, but climate activists have criticized the licensing round and Greenpeace is working on a legal challenge.
Britain's recent increase to a windfall tax on the oil and gas sector has pushed the U.K. North Sea's biggest oil and gas producer, Harbour, to shun the licensing round.
RELATED
Shell Energy Transition Prompted Talks to Sell Norway Business
Energy majors Shell and BP took part, company spokespeople said.
The 115 bids came from 76 companies for 258 of 931 blocks on offer. That compared with 104 bids for 245 blocks out of 768 on offer in 2019, the NSTA said.
The British North Sea, home to the Brent global benchmark grade, is an ageing basin where oil and gas production has fallen from a 1999 peak of about 4.4 MMboe/d to about 1.5 MMboe/d.
While hosting the 2021 COP26 climate summit, Britain decided not to join an alliance of countries vowing to stop new oil and gas projects on their territory.
Recommended Reading
Halliburton Secures Drilling Contract from Petrobras Offshore Brazil
2025-01-30 - Halliburton Co. said the contract expands its drilling services footprint in the presalt and post-salt areas for both development and exploration wells.
TGS to Reprocess Seismic Data in India’s Krishna-Godavari Basin
2025-01-28 - TGS will reprocess 3D seismic data, including 10,900 sq km of open acreage available in India’s upcoming 10th Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) bid round blocks.
RoboTrucks Arrive in Permian Basin, Haul Proppant for Atlas Energy
2025-01-24 - Autonomous trucks developed by Kodiak Robotics delivered sand, off-road, for Atlas Energy Solutions’ Permian operations beginning in December.
Halliburton Sees Strong Adoption of New Oilfield Tech Offerings
2025-01-22 - Halliburton Co.’s Zeus e-fracs, Octiv auto-fracs and the Sensori monitoring platform are setting the stage for long-term growth, CEO Jeff Miller says.
New Era Helium, Sharon AI Cement Permian Basin Data Center JV
2025-01-21 - New Era Helium and Sharon AI have created a JV, Texas Critical Data Centers, and are working on offtake gas supply agreements and site selection.
Comments
Add new comment
This conversation is moderated according to Hart Energy community rules. Please read the rules before joining the discussion. If you’re experiencing any technical problems, please contact our customer care team.