Contracts to boost oil and gas exploration activity in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) have been awarded.

It is the Oil and Gas Authority’s (OGA) second £20 million seismic campaign aimed at promoting underexplored areas of UKCS.

PGS and WesternGeco have won the contracts and will carry out analysis to get data from the East Shetland Platform and South West Britain.

The programme is expected to collect between 10,000km and 15,000km of new seismic data.

It is due to begin in July, subject to receiving the relevant environmental approvals.

Gunther Newcombe, OGA Director of Exploration and Production said: “The seismic acquisition programme is a critical part of OGA’s plan to revitalise exploration. The 2016 programme is focusing on underexplored frontier areas where no substantial seismic has been acquired in decades.

“The UKCS is in a unique position having recovered more than 43 billion boe to date, yet up to 20 billion boe still remains. The challenge is now for industry to increase exploration drilling in the UKCS and work with OGA to meet our shared target of 50 Exploration & Appraisal wells per year by 2021.”

More than 40,000km of new and reprocessed data were released to industry earlier this year.

The 29th Offshore Licensing Round is due to open in the third quarter of 2016 and will cover areas including the Rockall Trough and Mid-North Sea High areas.