The Norwegian Ministry of Energy offers 57 new production licenses to 19 companies on the Norwegian continental shelf in the APA 2025 licensing round.
'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. 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’, said Minister of Energy, Terje Aasland.
All petroleum licensing rounds are carried out within the framework established by the Norwegian Parliament for where new production licenses may be awarded. Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) is an annual exploration round for the Norwegian continental shelf. The APA rounds are carried out within a fixed area, the APA area, which is expanded on the basis of petroleum professional assessments and in accordance with a fixed annual cycle. The APA area comprises the majority of the opened, available acreage on the continental shelf, including areas in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea, and the Barents Sea.
Of the 57 production licenses offered in APA 2025, 31 are located in the North sea, 21 in the Norwegian sea, and five in the Barents sea. A binding work program is linked to all the licenses to ensure maturation of the acreage or relinquishment of the licence to the state as the resource owner.
In total, 19 oil companies are offered parts in one or more of these licenses. 13 companies are offered one or more operatorships.
Background
Before licenses can be awarded for petroleum activities in an area on the Norwegian continental shelf, the area must be opened for petroleum operations. Production licenses can only be awarded in areas that are open and available for petroleum activities.
A production license gives the exclusive right to exploration, drilling, and extraction of petroleum within the geographical area of the license. Licenses are normally awarded through licensing rounds. The Ministry of Energy announces certain geographical areas where companies can apply for production licenses.
On the basis of the applications received, a production license is awarded a group of companies on the basis of objective, non-discriminatory and pre-announced criteria. The Ministry designates one operator for each production license.
The annual APA licensing rounds were introduced in 2003. The aim was to facilitate the discovery and extraction of profitable resources in mature areas, before existing infrastructure is shut down. The APA rounds occur annually and within a predefined area. This provides predictability to the companies about the areas available for application in the APA round, and facilitates regular replenishment of new exploration area to the companies. This is important for achieving effective exploration. Over time, the APA area is expanded, based on professional assessments of the areas' maturity, and the need for gradual exploration and utilization of time-critical resources. Today, the APA area covers most of the opened, available exploration areas on the Norwegian continental shelf.
The announcement of APA 2025, including the expansion of the APA area, was sent for public consultation with a deadline of 25 February 2025. The licensing round was announced 9 May, with an application deadline 2 September. By the deadline, the Ministry had received applications from 20 companies.
After the application deadline, the applications have been processed, resulting in the awards listed below.
The following companies have been offered parts in licences, or operatorships (parts/operatorships):
Aker BP ASA (22/12), Concedo AS (2/1), ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS (1/1), DNO Norge AS (17/4), Equinor Energy AS (35/17), Harbour Energy Norge AS (9/4), INPEX Idemitsu Norge AS (5/1), Japex Norge AS (2/0),Lime Petroleum AS (1/0), OKEA ASA (3/1), OMV (Norge) AS (4/2), Orlen Upstream Norway AS (6/0), Pandion Energy Norge AS (1/0), Petrolia NOCO AS (1/1), Repsol (2/2), Source Energy AS (2/0), TotalEnergies EP Norge AS (1/0), Vår Energi ASA (14/6), Wellesley Petroleum AS (5/5).
Source: Government.no
