DECC yesterday announced the 28th offshore licensing round, which has offered 134 licences covering 252 North Sea blocks as part of an offshore licensing round.
A further group of applications will be decided later after environment assessments have been carried out, announced DECC.
Business and energy minister Matthew Hancock said: “This successful licensing round, which is on track to be one of the biggest rounds ever in five decades, is a boost for the UK economy and shows our long term economic plan is working.
We are creating more jobs by backing business with better infrastructure investment. Industry are scrambling over themselves to invest in the UK and explore for energy.”
This bumper licensing round comes as DECC calls for industry input on how best to deliver the next stage of Sir Ian Wood’s Review, which carries recommendations that would lead to an additional 3-4 billion barrels of oil equivalent being produced over the next 20 years.