Accelerated gas focus for new UK licensing round

Regulator designates four priority clusters in Southern North Sea for fast track

The UK’s 33rd licensing round, which launches at 6pm today, will inevitably be controversial in a country where a robust and vocal environmental lobby co-exists with hydrocarbons production. But regulator the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) looks to be aiming to tap into greater public appetite for secure domestic gas supplies to garner support for the new acreage awards. UK environmentalists have already shown their hand by warning that more licensing will not help solve the country’s so-called ‘gas crisis’ in the near term. But the NSTA has identified four priority cluster areas in the gas-rich Southern North Sea that have known hydrocarbons, are close to infrastructure and have the