Austrian oil and gas company OMV AG (OMV.VI) has been awarded one additional offshore exploration license in Norway, the company said Tuesday.
The new license is located in the Norwegian Sea in high quality exploration acreage, and will be operated by OMV (Norge) AS. The license was awarded by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in the course of the Awards in Predefined Areas, or APA. The expansion of OMV´s activities in the core region Northwest Europe is in line with OMV's growth strategy, the company said.
"With our new exploration license we are well on track to build a strong position as exploration operator in Norway. The step by step expansion of our portfolio in Norway strengthens our E&P position in this core region," said Helmut Langanger, OMV Executive Board member, responsible for Exploration and Production.
OMV opened an office in Oslo in March 2006 and has moved to Stavanger in August 2007. Two licenses (PL 430, PL 439) were awarded to OMV in early 2007 and another two licenses (PL 449, PL 445) in June 2007. The recently awarded license PL 471 in the Norwegian Sea will be operated by OMV (50%) with Sagex Petroleum Norge AS (50%) as a partner. All the licenses are located in prospective areas, OMV said.