The UK regulator has awarded a total of 24 exploration licences to a group of 17 companies including European oil majors Shell, Equinor, BP and TotalEnergies in its latest lease sale for North Sea oil and gas exploration acreage.
The awards announced on Tuesday by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) add to the batch of 27 licenses the authority offered to explorers in the first stage of the process last October.
On Tuesday, the regulator said it had awarded a total of 74 blocks for exploration.
Both sales are part of the UK’s 33rd oil and gas licensing round launched in late 2022, with over 900 blocks made available to interested bidders.
The blocks on offer cover exploration areas spanning the Central North Sea, Northern North Sea, and West of Shetland areas.
A group of remaining blocks, mostly in the Southern North Sea and East Irish Sea, could be put to market at a later date once environmental assessments have been completed.
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“This latest batch brings total offers so far to 51, with more to come once the appropriate environmental checks are complete,” commented the NSTA.
The regulator said the exploration activity has “the potential to make a significant contribution to the UK in energy production” and that it will work with companies to bring the licences into production “as quickly as possible”.
Among the blocks on offer, ten blocks were awarded to TotalEnergies in a partnership with Shell.
Equinor was awarded two licences, one covering five blocks, and another in partnership with Suncor, for nine blocks.
BP was awarded two blocks, as was Shell, aside from the other licence with TotalEnergies.
Other companies awarded licences include Dana Petroleum, Delic Energy, Enquest, Apache Beryl, Anasuria Hibiscus, North Sea Natural Resources, NEO Energy (in partnership with Ithaca and Shell), Harvester Energy and Orcadian.