The majority of us will say check out last year’s figures – only 13 exploratory wells were drilled in 2015. As energyvoice.com put it – “Exploration in British waters has absolutely crashed and is now at its worst ever in the entire history of our still strategically vital offshore oil and gas industry.” But that was before the closure of the latest government licensing rounds. Keen observers (they do say the geeks will inherit the Earth) noticed that for the first time in over twenty years the recent offshore licensing offers in the North Sea concerned what’s described as “frontier areas”. And guess what? Be still our beating hearts. It was “really positive”. 24 companies applied for licenses covering 113 blocks – BP alone made 29 applications. Nick Richardson, head of exploration and new ventures at the OGA said, “It is not much use comparing this to […]