Announcement - awards in predefined areas (APA) 2009

The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy hereby announces Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) 2009. With this announcement prospective blocks for exploration activities in mature areas of the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) are being made available to the industry.

The purpose of the APA-rounds is to enhance exploration activities in mature areas, where expectations are smaller discoveries that cannot justify an independent development. It is therefore good resource management to discover and develop these resources before existing infrastructure in connection to other fields are shut down. APA-rounds are also considered important to enhance exploration activities and employment in the industry and supply industry.

The APA-area is not extended for 2009.

There have been six APA-rounds since the creation in 2003. In view of the APA-arrangement has functioned for six years, and that it is one of the most important instruments in licence policy, the authority wants an evaluation of the APA-arrangement.

The safety level is high on the Norwegian shelf, as reflected on today high safety regulation. Drilling at deep sea and high pressure/high temperature wells is demanding operations that set particular requirement for planning and implementation. Thus are there in APA-2009 emphasize additional requirement for qualifications of the operator in area of deep sea and high pressure/high temperature. The strong conditions regarding environmental concerns and fisheries interests for the blocks in the predefined area are as APA 2008.

The deadline for submission of applications is 12.00 am on 15. September 2009. Awards of new production licences is planned to take place late 2009 / early 2010.

Complete announcement, updated maps of available blocks, conditions related to environmental and fisheries interests and further information are available on the internet pages of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate

Map over APA-2009