Who owns the North Sea?

An interactive database showing who owns oil and gas licenses in the North Sea.

Licenses grant their holders rights over the fossil fuel wealth of the North Sea, shaping how much is extracted and how it is used. This vitally shapes how we tackle the climate emergency and secure a just transition.
Read why it matters
How it works
Each circle is a ‘block’, a sub-level of the licenses granted by the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), which gives the owners exclusive rights to search for and extract fossil fuels in the defined area.
Selecting a point on the map displays the equity stakes and ultimate parent companies of the companies operating in that block or sub-area.
Selecting the ultimate parent company will reveal in blue all other license blocks where the parent company has a stake.
All licence and equity data is derived from the Oil & Gas Authority's OGA_Licences_ETRS89 document under the OGA Open User License, found at: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=2d61f4a83f2c49b68fcb1b809978bd63. All data is the property of the OGA. Connections to Ultimate Parent entitites derive from Common Wealth analysis of the Thomson Reuters Refinitiv database and publicly available filings and information.
Executive Producer:
‍Jackson Hoffart

Lead Analyst:
‍Adrienne Buller
Design Consultant:
‍Arby Hisenaj
common-wealth.co.uk
View full database
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Who owns the North Sea?

An interactive database showing who owns oil and gas licenses in the North Sea.

Licenses grant their holders rights over the fossil fuel wealth of the North Sea, shaping how much is extracted and how it is used. This vitally shapes how we tackle the climate emergency and secure a just transition.
Read why it matters
How it works
Each circle is a ‘block’, a sub-level of the licenses granted by the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), which gives the owners exclusive rights to search for and extract fossil fuels in the defined area.
Selecting a point on the map displays the equity stakes and ultimate parent companies of the companies operating in that block or sub-area.
Selecting the ultimate parent company will reveal in blue all other license blocks where the parent company has a stake.
All licence and equity data is derived from the Oil & Gas Authority's OGA_Licences_ETRS89 document under the OGA Open User License, found at: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=2d61f4a83f2c49b68fcb1b809978bd63. All data is the property of the OGA. Connections to Ultimate Parent entitites derive from Common Wealth analysis of the Thomson Reuters Refinitiv database and publicly available filings and information.
Executive Producer:
‍Jackson Hoffart

Lead Analyst:
‍Adrienne Buller
Design Consultant:
‍Arby Hisenaj
common-wealth.co.uk
Explore database