OREANDA-NEWS. Lotos Exploration & Production Norge AS has been awarded two new production licenses on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The offers were issued on the 21st of January after the authorities had evaluated applications from 50 companies in the Awards in Pre-defined Areas (APA) 2013.

- We are very satisfied with the award of two new operatorships. They are situated in areas which we have been focusing on for some time. The awards reflect our application and our ambitions and demonstrate that LOTOS Norge is considered a competent operator in the Norwegian oil industry - says Gerhard Bauer, CEO of LOTOS E&P Norge.

The licenses are both located in the southern part of North Sea. Production license 503 C is located on the Sele High, to the east of Statoil' Sleipner-field. The partners in the license are Edison International, North Energy, Lime Petroleum and Skagen44.

Production license 498 B is also situated in the Jaren High to the north west of BP's Ula-field in the North Sea. The partners in the license are Edison International, North Energy, Lime Petroleum, and Skagen44.

According to Gerhard Bauer LOTOS Norge will make a decision on further activities, including drill or drop decisions for the prospects, during 2014/2015.

A total of 48 companies received offers for 65 new production licenses on the Norwegian continental shelf in this round.