Tullow Oil has been awarded nine operated exploration blocks in the UK's 22nd offshore licensing round.
The licence awards comprise seven blocks in Tullow's core CMS area of the Southern North Sea and two blocks in the North Viking Graben.
The seven SNS blocks comprise two traditional awards located to the south of Tullow's Boulton field and five promote awards in an under-explored area to the west of Boulton. A further two promote awards are located in the North Viking Graben to the east of the Tern Field.
Tullow plans to reprocess existing 2D and 3D seismic data as part of the full evaluation of the potential of the sites. It will start this work early next year.
'Tullow is committed to developing and expanding its business in the North Sea and the award of these operated blocks is further evidence of our progress,' commented Tullow's Chief Executive Aidan Heavey.
Tullow has interests in over 90 exploration and production licences spread over three core areas - UK north Sea, West Africa and South Asia.
