Circle Oil has been awarded the licence for Block 52 in the Arabian Seas off the southern coast of Oman.

The licence is for a nine year period, divided into three, three year exploration phases. Circle Oil will reprocess existing data and acquire new 2D seismic data in the first phase.

Block 52, which is over 100,000 sq kms, is in a deepwater province and has had very little exploration. Previous work focused on the shallow, near shore waters where there were minor hydrocarbon shows in two wells drilled in 1979 and 1991. Circle Oil will concentrate on the unexplored, deeper water areas of the licence.

Chief Operating Officer Jack Keyes said: 'We are very excited by the potential of this large unexplored area. Combined with our current holdings in Oman, Circle Oil is now one of the largest licence holders by acreage in a country that is known to be rich in hydrocarbons.'