Wintershall Dea was awarded seven new Licences in APA 2021 round in Norway

• Four licences as operator
• Strengthened acreage position in core areas around existing infrastructure

Wintershall Dea has been awarded seven exploration licenses in the annual Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) round in Norway, including four as operator. The new awards strengthen Europe’s leading independent gas and oil company’s position on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

“We value the stable APA licensing framework in Norway which allows us to continue exploring for hydrocarbons on the Norwegian Shelf,” said Alv Bjørn Solheim, Managing Director Wintershall Dea Norge, after the awards were announced by Norway’s Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Marte Mjøs Persen, on January 18. “Access to new acreage gives us the confidence to invest in Norway for the long-term, to deliver new projects and tax revenues to the Norwegian society, and to support the local service industry”, Solheim added.

The APA 2021 awards, which include five new licenses and two area extensions, are all located in mature areas of the Norwegian Continental Shelf where Wintershall Dea has an existing acreage position.

Five of the new licenses are located in the North Sea. The two other new licenses are located in the Norwegian Sea, including a new operated license close to the Njord field.

“We have been very successful in recent years exploring close to existing infrastructure in areas where we have in-depth knowledge of the regional geology. We believe that by continuing to focus on these areas we can deliver further discoveries with short lead times,” said Hugo Dijkgraaf, Chief Technology Officer of Wintershall Dea and responsible for Exploration. “Moreover, by exploring our focus areas further and adding possible discoveries to existing production facilities, we ensure a more sustainable production with lower emissions”, he added. Wintershall Dea is an expert for developing smart subsea solutions, for instance with its operated Nova field in the Norwegian North Sea, which will come on stream later this year.

Recent operated discoveries include Bergknapp, close to Wintershall Dea’s Maria field, and Dvalin North, close to the own operated Dvalin field. Both are among the ten largest discoveries on the Norwegian Shelf over the past five years.

With at least seven exploration and appraisal wells scheduled in Norway in 2022, the new awards further strengthen Wintershall Dea’s position as one of the leading operators in Norway. Besides replenishing the license portfolio, the awards provide Wintershall Dea with the opportunity to apply new ideas to areas that have been licensed several times before. This strategy has proven very successful in recent years, with a total of 12 discoveries since the merger between Wintershall and Dea in 2019.

The Ministry awarded a total of 53 licenses to 28 companies in the APA 2021 licensing round. The round comprises blocks in predefined areas in the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea.

Wintershall Dea Norge is one of the largest license holders on the Norwegian Shelf with a portfolio of over 100 exploration and production licenses, including the new APA 2021 awards.

North Sea:

PL 1151 (40% operator)

PL 1149 (40% operator)

PL 927 B (50% operator)

PL 1153 (30%)

PL 1100 B (20%)

Norwegian Sea:

PL 1155 (30 % operator)

PL 1167 (40%)

_{About Wintershall Dea}

_{Wintershall Dea is Europe’s leading independent natural gas and oil company with more than 120 years of experience as an operator and project partner along the entire E&P value chain. The company with German roots and headquarters in Kassel and Hamburg explores for and produces gas and oil in 13 countries worldwide in an efficient and responsible manner. With activities in Europe, Russia, Latin America and the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa), Wintershall Dea has a global upstream portfolio and, with its participation in natural gas transport, is also active in the midstream business. More in our Annual Report.}

_{As a European gas and oil company, we support the EU's 2050 carbon neutrality target. As our contribution we have set ourselves ambitious targets: We want to be net zero across our entire upstream operations – both operated and non- operated by 2030. This includes Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect) greenhouse gas emissions on an equity share basis. In addition Wintershall Dea will bring methane emissions intensity below 0.1 per cent by 2025 and maintain zero routine flaring of associated gas in its operations. The climate goals are to be achieved through portfolio   optimization,   emissions   reduction   through   more   energy   efficiency, investments in nature-based compensation solutions and in future technologies such as hydrogen and CCS. You can find more about this in our Sustainability Report.}

_{Wintershall Dea was formed from the merger of Wintershall Holding GmbH and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG, in 2019. Today, the company employs around 2,500 people worldwide from over 60 nations.}