Denmark plans fifth offshore license round

Denmark's Ministry of Energy is beginning preparations for a fifth offshore licensing round while working towards an open door policy covering the least prospective Danish waters. Peter Schroeder, deputy head of the ministry's licensing department, told Oil & Gas Journal that the fifth offshore round will include all acreage in Denmark's Central Graben area that is currently unlicensed.

Nov. 18, 1996

2 min read

Denmark's Ministry of Energy is beginning preparations for a fifth offshore licensing round while working towards an open door policy covering the least prospective Danish waters.

Peter Schroeder, deputy head of the ministry's licensing department, told Oil & Gas Journal that the fifth offshore round will include all acreage in Denmark's Central Graben area that is currently unlicensed.

Fifth round blocks will be in and among acreage awarded under Denmark's fourth licensing round, which encouraged participation by foreign companies other than Dansk Undergrunds Consortium partners for the first time (OGJ, Sept. 2, p. 32).

Schroeder said the licensing department intends to submit fifth-round proposals to the energy minister in May 1997, with a view to agreeing blocks to be made available and a licensing schedule next summer.

The department is pushing for a Jan. 1, 1998, deadline for submissions of bids by companies, with granting of concessions to follow in May that year, ahead of parliamentary elections slated for September 1998 at the latest.

Schroeder said conditions for fifth-round licenses will most likely be similar to fourth-round terms, which featured a reduction in state participation after commercial finds (OGJ, Apr. 24, 1995, p. 42).

Meanwhile, the department intends early next year to open to bidding on a permanent basis all Danish acreage outside the Central Graben area, where all commercial discoveries have been made to date.

Schroeder said the department hopes to benefit from the recent resurgence of interest in Danish exploration, through enabling companies to file specific applications for less attractive acreage as and when they wish.