Australian firm formally secures UK offshore license trio

Three new licenses awarded to ASX-listed Hartshead Resources as part of the UK’s oil and gas licensing round organized by the country’s regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), have been fully executed.

The Australian firm is now the official holder of six licenses covering ten blocks, nine of which are situated in the Southern gas basin, while a single block is located in the East Irish Sea. The first three licenses – P2669, P2670, and P2678 – were formally awarded and executed earlier this month.

Since the latest win contains an additional 627 Bcf 2C contingent resources and 560 Bcf 2U prospective resources, the firm now has additional contingent and prospective resources of 1,187 Bcf (2C + 2U). Combined with the existing P2607 license, adjacent to three of the six new blocks, the Australian player is set to get its hands on 1.5 Tcf of discovered reserves and yet-to-be-discovered accumulations.

The award forms part of the third batch of the UK’s 33rd licensing round organized by the NSTA. Reporting that the North Sea oil and gas industry decreased emissions by 4% for the fourth year in a row in 2023, the UK regulator recently warned that production needs to continue becoming cleaner and electrified if the sector wants to have a future.