The Oil Licensing Round - A Government's Perspective

GURR, ANDREW M.

The Falkland Islands completed its first ever licensing round during 1996. The licenses are currently working in what many regard as one of the last major Mesozoic basins in the world without so much as a test well.

This paper will review the process undertaken by the Falkland Islands Government in bringing a small and inexperienced country into the oil environment under the following major headings:

- A brief introduction to the Islands

- The first seismic phase

- The political complexities and their resolution

- The licensing round and the competition

- The awards

- The natural environment

- The immediate future

-The author will conclude with a personal view of the responsiveness of oil companies and how their approach to the Falklands was received in the Islands.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91021©1997 AAPG Annual Convention, Dallas, Texas.