Wintershall is continuing its growth on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. In the „Awards for Predefined Areas“ (APA) 2016 licensing round, Germany’s largest internationally active oil and gas company received shares in five licenses by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. The company will be operator of two of these. Two of the licenses are in the Norwegian North Sea and three are located near the Aasta Hansteen development in the Norwegian Sea (two operated). All of the licenses are in Wintershall core areas.

“Once again the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has shown confidence in Wintershall by awarding us these promising licenses. Our goal is to maintain a long-term growth path in Norway so it is critical that we continue to expand our portfolio. We have a track record of turning our licenses into discoveries, particularly in our core areas and we have submitted strong applications with solid geological concepts,” said Bernd Schrimpf, Managing Director at Wintershall Norge.

After the award Wintershall will hold around 60 licenses in Norway, with over 50 percent as operator. The company remains one of the major license holders on the shelf. The Ministry awarded a total of 56 licenses to 29 companies in the APA 2016 licensing round.

“This is a strong result for Wintershall. We have worked hard to identify blocks with a good chance of exploration success in areas where we have existing infrastructure and assets. This gives us the confidence to keep investing in our core areas, including the region around Aasta Hansteen, where we have an existing good cooperation with Statoil. Together we can contribute to extending the lifetime of the field,” said Guy Oakes, Head of Exploration at Wintershall Norge.

The award was announced during an industry seminar in Sandefjord, by the recently appointed Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Terje Søviknes.

The APA 2016 licensing round comprises blocks in predefined areas in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. It covers an overall surface area of 139,942 square kilometers and has been expanded with 24 blocks in the Norwegian Sea and 32 blocks in the Barent Sea since 2015. Some 33 companies applied for blocks.

About Wintershall

Wintershall Holding GmbH, based in Kassel, Germany, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BASF in Ludwigshafen. The company has been active in the extraction of natural resources for 120 years, and in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas for over 85 years. Wintershall focuses on selected core regions where the company has built up a high level of regional and technological expertise. These are Europe, Russia, North Africa, South America, and increasingly the Middle East region. The company wants to expand its business further with exploration and production, selected partnerships, innovation and technological competence. Wintershall employs about 2.000 staff worldwide from 50 nations and is now Germany’s largest, internationally active crude oil and natural gas producer.