Wintershall is further stepping up its crude oil and natural gas exploration activities in Norway. The former Norwegian oil and gas com-pany Revus Energy ASA, recently acquired by Wintershall, and the sub-sidiary responsible for the Norwegian operations, Wintershall Norge AS, each received three additional licences for exploration areas in the Norwe-gian North Sea in the latest 2008 licencing round of the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

Wintershall will be the operator in five of the six licences. The company is now one of the largest licence holders on the Norwegian continental shelf and operates a total of 21 licences. Harald Vabø, former CEO of Revus Energy ASA and now General Manager of the new company Wintershall Norge ASA, announced that they would start work on the six new areas quickly. “We already plan to start with seismic activities on the new acreage in the next few months.”

The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy issued 34 production licences to 40 companies as part of the 2008 licencing round. A large pro-portion of the licences granted apply to the Norwegian section of the North Sea (21). Another eleven licences were issued for the Norwegian Sea and two for the Barents Sea off the coast of Northern Norway. Overall 47 com-panies took part in the bidding process, which is now complete.

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