Norway on Tuesday offered 57 new production licenses to 19 companies in the annual licensing round for acreage in the best-explored areas on the Norwegian continental shelf, as Western Europe’s biggest oil and gas producer looks to maintain the current high level of output for years to come.
Norway holds an annual license round for exploration acreage in the best-known and mature areas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf—the so-called awards in predefined areas (APA) round. After more than 50 years of exploration activity, the APA rounds currently cover most of the area that has been open to drilling on the shelf.
Of the 57 production licenses offered today in APA 2025, a total of 31 licenses are located in the North Sea, 21 are in the Norwegian Sea, and five in the Barents Sea.
All major operators offshore Norway won licenses in this round, including Equinor, Aker BP, Vår Energi, and DNO, as well as the Norwegian subsidiaries of ConocoPhillips, TotalEnergies, Harbour Energy, and OMV, among others.
“Norway is Europe’s most important energy supplier, but in a few years production will begin to decline. Therefore, we need new projects that can slow the decline and deliver as much production as possible,” Energy Minister Terje Aasland said in a statement.
“Today, we are offering 57 new production licenses to 19 companies. This is a significant contribution to ensuring continued activity in the oil and gas industry. That activity is important for jobs, value creation, and Europe’s energy security,” the minister added.
Despite the best exploration results in four years in 2025, Norway will need even more exploration and discoveries, as well as investment in new oil and gas projects, to reverse an expected decline in output from the late 2020s, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate said last week in its annual review of the petroleum activity offshore Norway.
Companies operating offshore Norway are raising production of gas and oil, with the support of the Norwegian government, which continues to bet on the oil and gas industry and the massive revenues it raises for the country and its sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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