The Norwegian Ministry of Energy has received applications from 21 companies in connection with the Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) 2024 licensing round on the Norwegian continental shelf.

APA is an annual licensing round that covers mature areas on the Norwegian continental shelf. After more than 50 years of exploration activity, the APA rounds currently cover most of the area that has been opened and is available on the Norwegian continental shelf.

In a statement, the regulator revealed the list of companies applying for licenses: A/S Norske Shell, Aker BP ASA, Concedo AS, ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS, DNO Norge AS, Equinor Energy AS, INPEX Idemitsu Norge AS, Lime Petroleum AS, M Vest Energy AS, OKEA ASA, OMV (Norge) AS, Pandion Energy AS, Petrolia NOCO AS, PGNiG Upstream Norway AS, Repsol Norge AS, Source Energy AS, Sval Energi AS, TotalEnergies EP Norge AS, Vår Energi ASA, Wellesley Petroleum AS, and Wintershall Dea Norge AS.

“It is very gratifying that the companies still have great faith in the opportunities that lie in further exploration on the Norwegian continental shelf,” Minister of Energy Terje Aasland said in a recent statement. “Exploration and new discoveries are crucial to slowing the expected fall in production in the 2030s. That we succeed in identifying and developing new fields is not only important for employment, value creation and government income here at home. It is also important for energy security in Europe”.

APA 2024, which was announced on May 8, had an application deadline of September 3. The ministry said it does not publish the total number of applications because of “competitive considerations”.

In May, the ministry announced the expansion of acreage of available oil and gas production licenses with 37 blocks or parts of blocks. Three of the additional blocks are in the northwest of the Norwegian Sea and 34 blocks are in the east of the Barents Sea, the ministry said in an earlier news release.

The area that is newly included was opened before 1994. “The area contains acreage with known plays and exploration history, including previous exploration wells, relinquished acreage and acreage geographically located between awarded and relinquished acreage,” the ministry noted.

Further, acreage bordering on existing predefined acreage is included in the latest round. Some parts of the new areas are included “in order to be able to prove time-critical resources that can be linked to existing and planned infrastructure,” the ministry added.

The annual APA licensing rounds were introduced in 2003, occurring annually and within a predefined area. Over time, the APA area is expanded, based on professional assessments of the areas’ maturity, as well as the need for gradual exploration and utilization of time-critical resources. Currently, the APA area covers most of the available exploration areas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

A production license gives the exclusive right to exploration, drilling, and extraction of petroleum within the geographical area of the license. On the basis of the applications received, a production license is awarded to a group of companies on the basis of objective, non-discriminatory, and pre-announced criteria. The Ministry of Energy designates one operator for each production license.

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