LONDON – Britain’s oil and gas regulator on Jan 31 awarded 24 new hydrocarbon exploration licences to 17 companies as part of efforts to extend production in the ageing basin.

The licences are part of the second tranche of the North Sea Transition Authority’s (NSTA) 33rd oil and gas licensing round. Successful bidders include Shell, BP Norway’s Equinor and France’s TotalEnergies, the authority said.

The licences are in areas in the Central North Sea, Northern North Sea and West of Shetland areas.

The licensing round has angered environmental groups that have argued that the expansion of oil and gas production is inconsistent with the government’s target to become a net-zero carbon economy by 2050.

“The government still has its fingers in its ears. The government knows that the fossil fuel industry is driving the climate crisis, but instead of cracking down on oil and gas giants like Shell, they’re greenlighting a new drilling frenzy in the North Sea,” Greenpeace UK campaigner Philip Evans said in a statement.

Jan 31’s awards follow the 27 licences offered in the first allocation in October 2023, with more to follow in the coming months, the NSTA said.

The NSTA said the average time between licensing and first production is now close to five years, which means that licences awarded now could be producing before the end of the decade.

An exploration licence, however, does not necessarily result in a producing field.

Britain’s Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero, Mr Graham Stuart, said the “new licences will strengthen our energy security now and into the future, while also helping boost our economy, by backing an industry that supports 200,000 jobs and is worth £16 billion (S$27 billion) each year”.

Britain’s North Sea output stands at about 1.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed). That is down from about 4.4 million boed – more than Opec heavyweight Iraq – at the start of the millennium.

Output is projected to decline to less than 200,000 boed by 2050, the NSTA says. REUTERS