Hydrocarbon licensing. Offshore.

In 1995, an oil exploration and production licence was issued to AMOCO/OPAB for operations in the SW Latvian offshore area, but that licence still has not come into force due to the offshore border dispute between Latvia and Lithuania. OPAB is the present Licensee.

In April 2001, the 1st offshore licensing round was announced for hydrocarbon prospecting, exploration and production offshore Latvia.

In April 2002, a repeated licensing round was announced for hydrocarbon exploration and production offshore Latvia, as well as the 2^nd round for offshore prospecting.

In 2002, two hydrocarbon prospecting licences were issued to TGS-NOPEC. The licence area incorporates almost the whole Latvian shelf, comprising about 20,000 sq. km. These licences are not valid any longer.

In July 2004, two hydrocarbon exploration and production licences were issued to Odin Energi A/S (now Odin Energi Latvia). The licence areas are located in the southern part of the Latvian offshore area (see map), comprising 1,532 km².  

In June (or later) 2008, a licence for hydrocarbon (HC) prospecting will be issued for a part of the Latvian offshore area - 1011.2 km² (see map).

In June 2008, The Latvian Government prepares to announce the licensing competition for hydrocarbon exploration and production in the southwest part of the Latvian offshore in the Baltic Sea. A short geological description of the licence area and information about the available data are presented in the section HC COMPETITION