The new licences have been awarded under the UK's 32nd Offshore Licensing Round announced in September this year

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Five of the awarded licences to Deltic are located in the Southern North Sea Gas Basin. (Credit: C Morrison from Pixabay)

UK’s oil and gas exploration firm Deltic Energy has been formally awarded six new licences comprising 12 blocks in the North Sea by the UK Oil and Gas Authority.

The new licences have been awarded under the UK’s 32nd Offshore Licensing Round announced in September this year, and are effective from 01 December 2020.

Deltic Energy CEO Graham Swindells said: “We are now commencing work to progress the many opportunities on these exciting new licences and look forward to providing further updates in due course.”

The company secured licences on a 100% equity basis. These licences include P2567, P2560, P2561 and P2562 in the southern North Sea.

Additionally, the company secured the licence P2558 on a 30% basis in the North Sea. The remaining 70% stake is held by Shell UK.

New blocks considered as highly prospective by Deltic Energy

Deltic Energy considers the blocks as “highly prospective”, comprising a variety of exploration prospects.

The prospects are expected to “significantly enhance” the potential drilling opportunities, and the overall prospective resources associated with Deltic’s assets, the company noted.

In a press statement, Deltic Energy said: “The new licences reinforce the Company’s exploration focussed strategy which is based upon creating a steady ‘conveyor belt’ of licences that can be matured and support a long-term programme of exploration wells with discoveries supporting the longevity of existing infrastructure and the development of new gas production hubs.”

Five of the six new licences awarded to Deltic are located in the Southern North Sea Gas Basin.

With the new licences, the company’s controls over 2,733km2 of licences stretching from south of the Breagh gas field over to the Cupertino area.

Earlier this year, Deltic Energy announced a ‘material increase’ in the estimated gas volume, compared to previous estimates, at the Selene prospect located in license P2437 in the UK North Sea.