Serica jumps on UK offshore licence awards

Serica Energy, the oil and gas explorer, put on a spurtafter announcing it had been offered two production licences in the UK government's offshore licensing programme.

Block 110/8b in the East Irish Sea has been offered to Serica as operator with a 100% interest while a collection of other blocks near Centrica's York field have been offered to a consortium in which Serica has a 37.5% stake.

Serica's Chief Executive Tony Craven Walker said of the awards:

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"We intend to seek a partner to join us in East Irish Sea Block 110/8b with a view to extending the exploration programme in this block and have already commenced discussions."

In a separate announcement Serica says that the Namibian Minister for Mines and Energy, Isak Katali, has signed a so called "petroleum agreement" which will allow Serica to begin exploration operations at the central Luderitz Basin.

To secure the approval, Serica had to pay $1m in cash to the state oil company NAMCOR and hand over $2m in shares.

At 9.19am Serica shares were 8.19% up on yesterday's close. In the last 12 months the stock is down 50%.

BS