Production Licences
- Applications
Falkland Islands Government are not currently receiving applications for Offshore Production Licensing, in accordance with Offshore Petroleum (Licensing) Regulations 2000 (regulation 3A (1)) suspension of regulations 4-7 and pursuant to the 'Suspension Notice' published in the Gazette dated 9th September 2005.
The current active production license status as of March 2025, including phase expiry dates can be downloaded here:
Updated March 2025
All exploration areas and past licences are available on Offshore-Offshore Maps page
- Purpose
Production licences permit the search for and extraction of petroleum.
They are area-specific and provide exclusive rights for surveying, drilling and production within that area.
Although the licence permits extraction of hydrocarbons, approval must be sought for any development plan before commercial production commences. FDP Guidance is available on Regulation - Guidance page
- Current production licencees
Borders and Southern Petroleum plc
Rockhopper Exploration plc (and subsidiary companies Falkland Oil & Gas Ltd and Desire Petroleum Ltd)
Navitas Petroeum Development and Production Limited
Previous operators have included Edison International, Noble Energy Falklands Ltd., Shell, Amerada Hess, BHP Billiton, Lasmo and IPC/Lundin Oil, Argos, together with their respective partners.
- Operatorship
The licence holders must appoint an operator acceptable to the Governor.
The operator must organise, supervise and be responsible for all activities.
The operator is not allowed to commence any survey or commence, abandon or recommence the drilling of or completion for development of any well without the consent of the Governor. Such consents are obtained by completion of the relevant operations notices, downloadable below.
Good oilfield practices must be observed at all times.
Licence holders must comply with additional conditions to the licences as detailed in Petroleum Operations Notices issued from time to time by the Government.
- Situations requiring an additional exploration licence
Production licence holders require an exploration licence to conduct work outside the geographical limits covered by any of their production licences, but do not require an exploration licence to conduct work themselves within the production licence's geographical limits.
However, should the production licence holder appoint a third party contractor to acquire exploration data on their behalf within the area covered by the production licence, the contractor must hold an exploration licence in their own right.
- Other general conditions applicable to production licences
No licence or interest in a licence may be assigned without the permission of the Governor.
Applications are welcomed from companies and consortia worldwide. No preference or discrimination will be made for or against any applicant.
All applications will be appraised on a technical and financial basis by the Department of Mineral Resources.
Whilst the participation of Argentine oil companies is welcomed and considered desirable by the Falkland Islands Government, it is unlikely that an award would be made to any applicant group comprising more than 49% Argentine interests, or with an Argentine registered operator.
- Data requirements
Production licence regulations require the holder to supply copies of all data to the Governor (or more usually to the British Geological Survey). See Regulation - Data Management page for further details
All data will be held in confidence by the Falkland Islands Government for a period of 5.5 years but may then be released to the public.
- Current types of Production licencing
Production licences fall into two types:
Competitive round production licences – issued as a result of a competitive bidding process in 1996
Open-door production licences – issued as a result of individual negotiation since 2001.
Please note that any future licensing may introduce an alternative production licence with amended model clauses.
The terms and conditions of the two current types of production licences are summarised in the table below.
Licence type/summary of terms |
Competitive round production licences |
|
How to apply |
Issued only as the result of invited, competitive bidding during well-defined licensing rounds |
Bids for open-door production licences are currently closed but can be made for any number of whole blocks (12' longitude by 10' latitude) up to a total of 30 contiguous blocks in any one licence. The applicant is free to determine the size and shape of the area bid for. There is no limit to the number of licences (each of up to 30 blocks) that can be applied for at any time. |
Work programmes |
The entire Phase 1 work commitments for all existing production licences issued in 1996 have been completed, or alternative (completed) programmes sanctioned by the Government. |
A work programme will be acceptable only if it contains one or more of the following elements:
Desk studies and the acquisition of presently available datasets, whether proprietary or non-exclusive, will not be regarded as acceptable work commitments, and production licences will not be issued for such work. |
Exploration Phase 1 |
The first exploration phase was for five years. However, this initial exploration period was extended in 2000, to provide additional years during the first phase. |
Phase 1 of the open-door licences is for 3, 5, 6 or 8 years, depending on the work programme commitment as outlined below: |
Exploration Phase 2 |
Phase 2 is seven years. |
Phase 2 is for five years. |
Exploration Phase 3 |
Phase 3 is ten years. |
This does not apply to open-door licences. |
Discovery area |
This does not apply to competitive round licences. |
If a discovery is made at any time during either Phase 1 or Phase 2, a 'Notification of Discovery' should be made to the Governor. |
Exploitation phase |
This phase is for 35 years, or longer if needed to complete production. |
This phase is for 35 years, or longer if needed to complete production. |
Acreage rentals |
Variable according to phase of licence |