Phillips secures a permit

Phillips secured a permit on 6 June to carry out seismic surveys on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS).

Four days later, Ward W Dunn, deputy head of the company’s international exploration department, was able to tell Trygve Lie that the company planned to spend about USD 300 000 on shooting seismic during the summer.

At the same time, he reminded Lie that the company had still not received a response to its request for an exclusive licence on the NCS. However, it was looking increasingly unlikely that this would be granted.

Several companies were conducting seismic surveys in the summer of 1963, and the results were swapped to some extent between them. Phillips conducted its programme with Belgian oil company Petrofina. Weather conditions meant the work was not completed in 1963, and the companies spent almost USD 600 000 on finishing it the following year.[REMOVE]Fotnote: Kvendseth, Stig S, Giant Discovery. A History of Ekofisk Through the First 20 Years, 1988: 12-13.