Centrica Energy Norway awarded first Barents Sea license

Stavanger, Norway – Centrica Energy has been awarded a 50% operating share in the Scarecrow licence, its first in the Barents Sea.

The Norwegian government on 12th June awarded the licences that form part of the 22ndround on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). Centrica Energy was awarded an operatorship and 50% ownership in the Scarecrow licence, block 719. This block opens up a new area for Centrica, and marks the beginning of a new venture for the Norwegian upstream business as it looks to grow its business further in Norway.

Dag Omre, Regional Director, Centrica Energy Norway, said: “We are delighted to be awarded this licence, which represents an important step forward in our plans of continuing to grow the business. We are already one of the fastest new entrants in Norway, and look forward to becoming a strong player on the Norwegian Continental Shelf”.

Centrica Energy was established in Norway in 2006. To date, the company has been awarded 36 licences out of 40 applications. Centrica Energy will operate the Scarecrow licence in partnership with Lukoil (30%) and North Energy (20%).

Notes

  • Centrica Energy Norway is one of the fastest growing entrants on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) with daily production of around 70,000 boe/d, and took on its first producing asset on the NCS, Vale, in April, which got extended lifetime to June 2021.
  • We have a strong success rate in recent licence rounds, with all nine requested licences in the Norwegian Awards Predefined Areas (APA) 2012,three as operator,making it the third largest in awarded number of blocks. We were also awarded six licenses - of which three as operator - in the 27th UK North Sea licensing round (October 2012), bidding jointly with Statoil as part of our successful MOU.
  • We continued to see drilling success with positive results from our Rodriguez exploration well. This takes us to five exploration successes from nine, a 56% success rate, above the industry average.
  • The business currently employs around 150 people in Stavanger and is continuing to grow.