Oil And Gas Licenses News

Norway's right wing government will retain its current holding in oil and gas firm Statoil , backing off a pre-election proposal to cut the stake to about 50 percent from the current two thirds of the shares. The government led by the Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg has pledged to reduce the state's role in the economy to give the private sector more breathing space and shrink what it considers a bloated public sector. The government owns about a third of shares listed…

Germany's Economy Ministry is investigating whether to block the sale of RWE's oil and gas unit DEA to a group of investors led by Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman, a spokeswoman said. The German government has never previously made use of a clause in its foreign trade law, under which it could stop the deal announced earlier this year if there were concrete signs it threatened "public safety and order". "An investigation has been started. It is an open-ended investigation (to find out) whether there are conditions for prohibiting the deal under the foreign trade accord," a spokeswoman for the Economy Ministry told Reuters. Spiegel magazine on Sunday reported the ministry had started to look into the deal following fresh information but did not give further details.

Norway's government wants to let firms other than pure oil companies apply for stakes in offshore oil and gas licenses as part of a drive to simplify the sector and attract investments. Government officials said smaller oil companies, downstream companies and the supply industry could take stakes in licenses on the shelf if the regulations are changed. Currently only pure oil and gas firms are allowed to apply. Analysts say that companies like offshore supply group Aker Maritime are among possible new contenders for stakes.