Foreign firms join North Sea oil rush

13 April 2012

NEARLY one in three companies applying for North Sea exploration licences this year are new to the region, as international firms rush to find undiscovered oil.

US players Endeavour Energy and Century Exploration are just two of 20 new entrants in the DTI's 22nd offshore licensing round, new figures show today.

A total of 68 energy firms have applied for licences, ranging from the supermajors to a host of start-ups. There could be 30bn barrels of oil left in the North Sea, as much as has already been pumped to the surface.

Energy Minister Stephen Timms said: 'Applications from 20 potential newcomers to the region are a further sign that there remains plenty of interest and belief in the potential of the North Sea.'

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in