Norway has awarded 29 companies licences in the latest oil and gas round as it looks to renew exploration that had been held back by increased taxes and costs.
International majors Shell, BP, Total and Statoil are among the companies winning the 24 licences as Norwegian authorites look to revive an oil production industry threatening to hit a 25-year low.
Most of the new licences are in the Barents Sea, as companies look to exploit the estimated 7.9billion barrels equivalent of undiscovered oil and gas the Norwegian government predicts it holds.
The new round comes just days after Statoil announced it was delaying plans to develop the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea because of tax increases.
But Ola Borten Moe, Norway’s oil minister, insisted the country’s tax regime was stable and supportive.
“We still have a predictable investment-friendly tax framework; this was just an adjustment,” he said.
“Johan Castberg is a very large project and I think it will go through. It is not abnormal, unprecedented or dramatic to use more time to work your way through a project so large.”
Statoil landed stakes in seven of the 24 licences announced and won the right to operate three of them, while OMV will have the chance to extend its reach in Norway after picking up stakes in six licences.
BP received stakes in two, while Dong and Dana Petroleum failed to win any licences.