The UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) awarded on Wednesday 123 licenses over 229 blocks or part-blocks to 61 companies in the 30th Offshore Licensing Round in the UK North Sea, expecting the round to lead very quickly to activity and boost exploration. The new program commitments include eight firm exploration/appraisal wells, nine firm new-shoot 3D seismic surveys, and 14 licenses progressing straight to field development planning, the OGA said on Wednesday in what it said would be a “transformational” licensing round for the UK North Sea oil industry. The latest round may help to unlock around a dozen undeveloped discoveries containing a central estimate of 320 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of resources in undeveloped oil and gas discoveries that were previously stranded but can now progress through further appraisal to field development, according to the OGA. “The UKCS is back. Big questions facing the basin have […]