EN Official Journal of the European Union C 275/3

Announcement from Norway concerning Directive 94/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the conditions for granting and using authorisations for the prospection, exploration and production of hydrocarbons

Announcement of invitation to apply for petroleum production licences on the Norwegian Continental Shelf – 23rd licensing round

(2015/C 275/03)

The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy hereby announces an invitation to apply for petroleum production licences in accordance with Directive 94/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 1994 on the conditions for granting and using authorizations for the prospection, exploration and production of hydrocarbons (1), Article 3, para 2, litra a).

Production licences will only be awarded to joint stock companies registered in Norway or in another state party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (the EEA Agreement), or to natural persons domiciled in a state party to the EEA Agreement.

Companies which are not licensees on the Norwegian Continental Shelf may be awarded production licences if they are prequalified as licensees on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Individual companies and companies applying as part of a group will be treated on equal terms by the Ministry. Applicants submitting an individual application, or applicants being part of a group submitting a joint application, will all be considered as an applicant for a production licence. The Ministry may, on the basis of applications submitted by groups or individual applicants, compose groups of licensees to be awarded a new production license, including removing applicants in a group application and adding individual applicants, as well as appoint the operator for such groups.

The award of a participating interest in a production license will be subject to the licensees entering into an Agreement for Petroleum Activities, including a Joint Operating Agreement and an Accounting Agreement. If the production license is stratigraphically divided, the licensees of the two stratigraphically divided licenses will also be required to enter into a specific Joint Operating Agreement, regulating the relationship between them in this respect.

Upon signing the said agreements the licensees will form a joint venture in which the size of their participating interest will at all times be identical to their participating interest in the production license.

The licence documents will mainly be based on relevant documents from the Awards in Predefined Areas 2014 and 22nd licensing round. The aim is to make the main elements of any adjustments to the framework available to the industry prior to the time of application.

Criteria for the award of a production licence

To promote good resource management and rapid and efficient exploration for and production of petroleum on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, including the composition of license groups to ensure this, the following criteria shall apply to the award of participating interests in production licenses and to the appointment of operator:

(a) The applicant's geological understanding of the geographical area in question, and how the licensees propose to perform efficient exploration for petroleum.

(b) The relevant technical expertise of the applicant, and how this expertise may actively contribute to cost effective exploration and, as appropriate, the production of petroleum from the geographical area in question.

(c) The applicant's experience on the Norwegian Continental Shelf or equivalent relevant experience from other areas.

(d) That the applicant has the satisfactory financial capacity to carry out exploration for and, as appropriate, production of petroleum in the geographical area in question.

(e) If the applicant is or has been a licensee in a production license, the Ministry may take into account any form of inefficiency or lack of accountability demonstrated by the applicant as a licensee.

(f) Production licenses will mainly be awarded to a joint venture where at least one licensee has drilled at least one well on the Norwegian Continental Shelf as operator or has equivalent relevant operational experience outside the NCS.

(g) Production licenses will mainly be awarded to two or more licensees, where at least one has experience as mentioned under f).

(h) The appointed operator for production licenses in the Barents Sea must have drilled at least one well on the Norwegian Continental Shelf as operator or have equivalent relevant operational experience outside the NCS.

(i) For production licences in deep waters, both the appointed operator and at least one other licensee must have drilled at least one well on the Norwegian Continental Shelf as operator or have equivalent relevant operational experience outside the NCS. In the production license one licensee must have drilled in deep waters as operator.

(j) For production licenses where drilling of exploration wells in high pressure and/or high temperature (HTHP) is expected, the appointed operator and at least one other licensee must have drilled at least one well on the Norwegian Continental Shelf as operator or have equivalent relevant operational experience outside the NCS. In the production license one licensee must have drilled a HTHP-well as operator.

Blocks available for application

Applications for petroleum production licences may be submitted for the following blocks or parts of blocks in the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea:

6503/1, 2, 4

7132/1, 2, 3, 6

7133/1, 4

7220/9, 12

7221/7, 8, 10

7228/11

7232/10

7234/3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12

7235/1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7

7322/3, 7, 9

7323/1, 5, 6

7324/5, 6, 10

7325/2, 3, 4, 5, 6

7332/9

7333/7

7335/1, 2, 3

7336/1

7434/7

7434/8, 9

7435/9, 10, 11, 12

7436/10

The full text of the announcement, including detailed maps of available areas may be found on the web-page of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate www.npd.no

Applications for petroleum production licences shall be submitted to:

Ministry of Petroleum and Energy PO Box 8148 Dep. N-0033 Oslo NORWAY

Two copies shall be submitted to

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate PO Box 600 N-4003 Stavanger NORWAY

Deadline: 12:00 (midday) on 2 December 2015.

The award of petroleum production licences in the 23rd licensing round on the Norwegian Continental Shelf is planned to take place before summer 2016.

The work program for each new licence in the 23rd licensing round will be made public at the time of awards.

(1) OJ L 164, 30.6.1994, p. 3.