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In an attempt to increase output in the ageing basin Britain’s trade body for the offshore energy industry, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) has granted 31 additional hydrocarbon exploration licences. The licences were granted as part of the third and final tranche of the NSTA's 33rd round of oil and gas licencing. The primary objective of the licences is gas extraction in the southern North Sea.
In the third segment, 82 offers were issued to 50 entities after comprehensive environmental evaluations; these offers came after 76 companies submitted 115 bids for 257 blocks and part blocks. It is projected that the licences awarded in this round will contribute around 600 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) by 2060, or 545 mmboe by 2050.
Within the following five years, the licences are anticipated to become operational.
Andy Brooks, the director of new ventures for the NSTA "These licences might maintain oil and gas production, delivering major advantages for jobs and the economy, and the NSTA will work with the licensees to help bring them into production as quickly as possible."
On October 7, 2022, the UK launched its 33rd round of oil and gas licencing, which included land in four priority locations with known hydrocarbons across the North Sea. October 2023 saw the distribution of the first batch of 27 awards, and February 2024 saw the distribution of the second batch of 24 licences.
There are 88 blocks or part blocks in the Central North Sea, East Irish Sea, and Southern North Sea in the most recent and third tranche of licences issued by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), which included 31 new licence offers.
"We all recognise that our energy mix must change, and our sector is ramping up renewables and accelerating the drive to net zero," says David Whitehouse, CEO of Offshore Energies UK. However, this trip will take some time. Our North Sea basin is naturally shrinking in the meanwhile. Despite the fact that we have over 280 oil and gas fields, 180 of them will have stopped producing by the end of the decade. For an orderly transition to sustain employment and communities across the nation while meeting our energy requirements, we need a churn of licencing.
The North Sea provides around half of the gas used in the UK and produced oil is crucial to both the country's needs and the energy security of Europe since the UK uses more than 70% of its oil.
Check more details here- https://oeuk.org.uk/new-oil-and-gas-licences-strengthen-every-sector-of-the-uk/
