Chevron Awarded Exploration Rights in the Norwegian Sea

Chevron Upstream Europe, a strategic business unit of Chevron's Europe, Eurasia and Middle East (EEME) Operating Company today announced that it has successfully bid for the exploration rights in four blocks awarded in the Norwegian 21^st Licensing Round.

The blocks are located in the Outer Vøring Basin in the Norwegian Sea, approximately 335 miles (540 kilometres) west of the coast of Bodø, in 6824 feet (2080 metres) of water.  Chevron Norge AS has been appointed as the operator with a 40 percent equity in Production Licence PL598 comprising the blocks 6601/6 and 9 and 6602/4 and 7.  The other participants in the blocks are ExxonMobil Exploration & Production Norway AS with 30 percent equity interest, Idemitsu Petroleum Norge AS with 10 percent equity interest and Petoro AS with 20 percent equity interest.

"Chevron is committed to building a focused portfolio of key exploration prospects worldwide" said Guy Hollingsworth, President of Chevron Europe, Eurasia and Middle East.  "We view the deep waters of the Norwegian Sea as an area of significant resource potential and this acquisition advances our strategy of pursuing attractive and high-impact growth opportunities."  Hollingsworth added, "This is Chevron's second award in the deep water of the Norwegian Sea and as operator, we look forward to working with our partners and bringing our technical expertise and capabilities to this high-potential area."

"Rick Cohagan, Managing Director of Chevron Upstream Europe said, "We are very pleased with the  partnership which will complement the strengths of the four companies – Chevron's exploration experience from the West of Shetland and ExxonMobil, Petoro and Idemitsu's significant regional knowledge and long-term operational experience in the Norwegian Sea. We appreciate the strengthened licence criteria imposed by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in Norway deep water operations and we will continue to apply Chevron's safety standards in all aspects of our operations."
Source: Chevron