Statoil Exploration has secured six offshore licensing options in Ireland’s 2015 Atlantic Margin Licensing Round.
The company will serve as operator of four licensing options and partner in two ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Ireland-operated licensing options.
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The six options won by the company total 7,700km² in the Porcupine Basin in water depths ranging between 1,100m and 3,150m.
All licensing options are equally held by Statoil and ExxonMobil.
Statoil exploration Northern Hemisphere senior vice-president Erling Vågnes said: "We are pleased with these awards that will see Statoil re-entering the Irish exploration scene.
"This supports Statoil’s exploration strategy of early access at scale and enables us to apply the exploration knowledge and experience we have gained globally and specifically on the conjugate margin offshore Newfoundland.
"We look forward to working with ExxonMobil on exploring these opportunities."
Work on the licences is currently limited to performing seismic surveys during 2016 and 2017.
Analysis will then determine whether Statoil will seek to convert the licensing options into frontier exploration licences, enabling exploration drilling later on.
Statoil’s main asset in Ireland currently is a 36.5% interest in the Shell-operated Corrib gas field off the country’s north-west coast.
On 11 February 2016, minister McHugh announced the offer of 14 new licensing options in the Irish offshore area after concluding the first phase of awards in the 2015 Atlantic Margin Licensing Round.
Image: All the licensing options are equally held by Statoil and ExxonMobil. Photo: © Statoil.
