Offshore staff
DUBLIN, Ireland – Pat Rabbitte, Ireland’s Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, has awarded 13 new offshore licensing options to 12 companies under the country’s 2011 Atlantic Margin Licensing Round.
Speaking at a petroleum research conference in Dublin, Rabbitte said a total of 15 applications had been submitted.
The licensing options are for a two-year period, during which time the licensees must complete an agreed work program. These can then be converted to Frontier Exploration licenses, which carry a 12-year term, divided into four three-year phases, with a well commitment at the end of the first phase.
The companies awarded licenses include new entrants to Ireland, and others already active in the Irish offshore. The seven new companies offered acreage are Antrim Energy, Bluestack Energy, Europa Oil & Gas, First Oil Expro, Petrel Resources, Repsol Exploration, and Two Seas Oil & Gas.
Existing players are Providence Resources, Chrysaor, Serica Energy, Sosina Exploration and San Leon Energy.
Rabbitte said: “Ireland needs to see an increase in exploration activity and exploration drilling in particular, if the petroleum potential of our offshore is to be realized.
“Ireland must continue to communicate the message to international exploration companies that Ireland is open for business and that the Irish offshore has real potential.”
The total area covered by the applications was just more than 15,000 sq km (5,791 sq mi), in water depths ranging from less than 200 m (656 ft) to more than 2,500 m (8,202 ft).
The awards comprise one licensing option in the Rockall basin, two in the Slyne basin, nine in the Porcupine basin and one in the Goban Spur basin.
Total applications and the number of proposed awards are the highest of any Irish Frontier Round since the process started in 1994.
Rabbitte said that The ‘Petroleum Systems Analysis of the Rockall and Porcupine Basins Offshore Ireland’ study, published in 2006, would be made available free of charge to help promote exploration in these areas.
Operators should also benefit from the completion, next year of the transatlantic Plate Reconstruction Project, co-funded by the Canadian Government of Newfoundland Labrador and the joint Irish Government-Industry Petroleum Infrastructure Program.