Hansa Hydrocarbons has taken its first steps into the Danish offshore sector with the provisional award of two new licences in the country’s seventh licensing round.

Hansa has picked up licences 7/16 and 14/16. Licence 7/16 covers an area of about 306 sq km in waters up to 1,700 m deep. It is situated adjacent to the German median line to the south. The exploration objectives are an extension of the Late Miocene oil play successfully appraised in 2015 with the Lille John-2 (32/22) well and side-track by Dana Petroleum.

The licence term is six years with a drill or drop decision at the end of the third year. The firm work programme consists of reprocessing existing 3-D seismic data, combined with AVO and inversion studies, de-risking the identified prospectivity prior to drilling. Partners on the licence will be Hansa (50%, operator), Edison International (30%) and Nordsøfonden (20%).

Licence 14/16 covers an area of about 285 sq km and is located on the northernmost margin of the Southern Permian Basin on the western limit of the Danish offshore.

The licence term is six years with a decision at the end of the second year to either acquire a new 3-D seismic survey or to drill an exploration well.

Partners in the licence will be Hansa (32%), Edison International (48%, operator) and Nordsøfonden (20%).

Hansa Hydrocarbon’s CEO John Martin said, “At a time of a major industry downturn, these awards represent a great opportunity for Hansa to build out its exploration portfolio with high-quality, high-impact acreage in a new core area.

“We have recognised for some time that offshore Denmark is relatively lightly explored compared to other North Sea sectors, especially given the multiple play types present and the infrequent licensing rounds. The awards are the result of some considerable effort in regional work and once again demonstrate how a small technically focused company can be successful in leveraging knowledge across borders. Furthermore we are delighted to be partnering with Edison and Nordsøfonden for the first time and look forward to working together to mature the prospectivity on these high potential exploration licences.”