ORLEN Secures New Licenses on the Norwegian Continental Shelf
ORLEN Upstream Norway has been offered stakes in six new exploration and production licenses by the Norwegian Ministry of Energy, following the APA 2025 licensing round. One of these licenses could be a game-changer, unlocking new opportunities for gas production in Norway.
As in previous years, ORLEN submitted applications for shares in areas near its existing assets. This strategy enables the company to leverage existing infrastructure for the potential development of new resources, reducing both investment costs and project timelines. As a result of APA 2025, ORLEN was offered licenses close to the Skarv, Vilje, Yme and Yggdrasil fields.
Not all of the licenses offered to ORLEN Upstream Norway are targeting new exploration. One example is Victoria near the Skarv area, where significant tight gas resources – estimated at up to 140 billion cubic meters in-place – were discovered in 2000.
The former shareholders of the Victoria discovery relinquished the license after drilling an appraisal well in 2009, citing challenging reservoir properties in a high pressure/high temperature environment that resulted in low production rate estimates from the conventional completion technology available at the time. Today, ORLEN, who is establishing a new joint venture alongside Aker BP, Equinor, and Harbour Energy, believes that achieving economic production rates from Victoria may now be possible.
“Upstream technologies have advanced in recent years such that there is an increased confidence in well stimulation within offshore HPHT environments. Victoria is one of the largest undeveloped gas discoveries on the Norwegian Shelf. If the revitalized approach to Victoria of our joint venture is successful, this would enable access to other unconventional gas discoveries currently stranded on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, whose combined in-place resources are estimated at over 800 billion cubic meters of gas. Our involvement in the Victoria project will give us a strong position to pursue similar opportunities in the future,” said Wiesław Prugar, ORLEN Management Board Member for Upstream. “We have extensive experience in stimulation techniques in onshore settings across the ORLEN portfolio outside of Norway that could be leveraged for tight gas projects within Norway. By strengthening cooperation and knowledge sharing across the ORLEN Group, we aim to maximize the efficiency of our upstream operations globally.”
ORLEN Upstream Norway was offered a 20 percent stake in a license which includes the Victoria discovery together with Aker BP, Equinor and Harbour Energy. Aker BP will be the license operator.
APA rounds are the primary mechanism for allocating new exploration and production licenses on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Each year, the Ministry of Energy announces pre-defined areas available for applications. To secure a license, companies must submit, among other things, an analysis of the potential of the given area and a binding work program. In awarding the licenses, the Ministry assesses the quality of the applications and the suitability of the proposed work program.
In the APA 2025 round, the Ministry of Energy allocated 57 licenses, with offers extended to 19 companies. Formal license awards will be finalized in March. Currently, ORLEN Upstream Norway holds interests in 94 licenses.
