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Dept of Trade and Industry

Answer

Mr. Derek Twigg: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what awards have been made in respect of petroleum production licences for blocks 204/14 and 204/15 west of Shetland. [19650] Mr. Battle: I am pleased to announce the award of petroleum production licences for blocks 204/14 and 204/15 in the Atlantic Frontier area to a group of companies comprising ARCO British Ltd., Conoco UK Ltd., British-Borneo Oil and Gas Ltd. and Ranger Oil (UK) Ltd. We received six very strong applications for these blocks, which were offered for licensing by a Notice in the Official Journal of the European Communities, C205 of 5 July 1997. All six met the award criteria set out in the Notice, but the work programme submitted by the ARCO consortium offers the best scheme for timely and thorough exploration of the full range of prospects in both blocks. After applications for the blocks had been received, a Note was received from the Danish Government reserving its position regarding a possible claim to a small part of the North West corner of block 204/14. Our response to the Note stated that the UK has no doubts about its sovereign right to licence the block. Both the Danish and Faroese Governments have been kept fully advised about the designation and offer of the area concerned. All six applicants were informed about the Note and all confirmed that they wished their applications to proceed.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

302 c342W; 19650

Session

1997-98

Subjects

Licensing Industry Exploration Oil North Sea oil Shetland Offshore drilling ARCO Chemical Europe