The Danish Energy Agency has awarded 16 oil and gas exploration licenses to 12 companies as part of the country’s seventh licensing round.
Firms receiving licenses are the UK’s Ardent Oil Ltd., Dana Petroleum PLC, and Hansa Hydrocarbons Ltd.; Denmark’s DONG Energy AS, Danoil Exploration AS, and state-owned Nordsofonden; Germany’s Wintershall Holding GMBH and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG; The Netherlands’ Dyas BV; Italy’s Edison SPA; Hess Corp. from the US; and Sweden’s PA Resources AB.
Ardent Oil took four licenses: Block 10/16 covering 202 sq km below 1,700-m sub-seabed, Block 11/16 covering 426 sq km, Block 12/16 covering 461 sq km, and Block 13/16 covering 760 sq km.
All four licenses will be held by Ardent Oil as operator with 80% interest, with the remaining 20% held by Nordsofonden.
Arden Oil says an opportunity has arisen to commission a Geostreamer MC 3D broadband seismic survey by Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) over Block 11/16, where the company has mapped the Jarnsaxa prospect.
PGS is operating an MC 3D Geostreamer broadband survey with the Ramform Vanguard in a nearby block for another operator, and those survey lines have now been extended over Block 11/16 with acquisition starting Mar. 19. A total of 323 sq km of full fold 3D broadband seismic will be acquired over the block.
DEA Deutsche Erdoel took 50% interest as operator of each of the 8/16 and 9/16 licenses. The 530-sq-km concession area is in the southern Central Graben in the western part of the Danish North Sea.
The main geological target in the concession area is Lower Cretaceous sandstones thought to hold oil, which will be verified in the next few years through seismic investigations and exploration drilling.
DEA Deutsche Erodoel’s partners in the two licenses are Dyas and Nordsofonden. “Nordsofonden looks forward to work together with the license holders to investigate more of the Danish subsurface in order to increase the Danish reserves,” said Peter Helmer Steen, director of Nordsofonden.
