Norway Awards Licenses. ORLEN in the Game for a Key Gas Field

The decisions were proposed by the Norwegian Ministry of Energy. The licenses cover exploration and production areas, some of which are located near already exploited fields. One license concerns the large Victoria gas discovery.

ORLEN Upstream Norway applied for areas located close to its current assets. The strategy is to use existing infrastructure, which helps reduce investment costs and shortens the potential development time of the fields.

The proposed licenses are located near the Skarv, Vilje, Yme, and Yggdrasil fields. The company has been using this development model for years. The licenses are part of the APA round. Formal allocation will take place in March.

One of the licenses concerns an area near the Skarv field. It includes unconventional tight gas resources discovered in 2000, estimated at up to 140 billion cubic meters. The discovery is called Victoria.

Previous stakeholders withdrew after a 2009 drilling, citing challenging reservoir conditions. Current partners believe that new technologies change the outlook. ORLEN is to receive a 20 percent stake, with Aker BP as the operator.

According to Norwegian administration data, unconventional gas resources on the Shelf amount to at least 800 billion cubic meters. In the APA 2025 round, 57 licenses were distributed among 19 companies. ORLEN Upstream Norway is among the beneficiaries. The company currently holds shares in 94 licenses on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.