“I am pleased to see that we are now offering exploration acreage in the Norwegian Sea in a numbered licensing round. Two of the new licences are located in deep water, in the western part of the Norwegian Sea. It is encouraging that the industry wants to explore these frontier areas of the shelf,” the ministry said.

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It found the interest in the eastern part of the Norwegian Sea positive: “If discoveries are made, this area can contribute important additional resources to the existing infrastructure,” it said. 

The nine Barents Sea licences are in geological provinces that have been subject to less exploration until now. Two of the new licences are additional acreage to existing production licences.

“Our analyses show that the largest undiscovered resource potential on the Norwegian Continental Shelf is in the Barents Sea. We also believe that this is the area on the Shelf most likely to deliver large discoveries,” the ministry said. “Although no new areas have been opened for exploration, as was the case before the 23^rd licensing round, more production licences are offered in the 24^th round. This shows that the Norwegian Continental Shelf is attractive to the industry.”

The 24^th licensing round was announced 21 June last year. The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy announced 102 blocks/parts of blocks, of which 9 were in the Norwegian Sea and 93 in the Barents Sea. Nearly half of this acreage is now included in the offers issued today; all 9 blocks in the Norwegian Sea and 38 blocks in the Barents Sea.