Investment in oil and gas exploration and production offshore Norway could reach £20.8 billion in 2013, according to new data.
Statistics Norway said the figure, covering total investments in oil and gas activity in 2013, including pipeline transportation, would be £5.4 billion higher than the estimate given the same time last year for spending in 2012.
Broken down into where the cash could be spent, most would be on field developments, followed by exploration and then onshore activities and pipelines.
The estimate for exploration activity was £3.7 billion, £600 million more than the estimate this time last year for 2012 spending.
For field development and fields coming on stream in 2013 the estimate was £16.5 billion, compared to £4.8 billion estimated for 2012.
Spending on onshore activities and pipelines in 2013 was estimated at £472 million, similar to the 2012 estimates.
Estimates of spending off Norway in 2012 have also been revised up compared to what they had been predicted to be this time last year.
Statistics Norway said total investments in oil and gas activities for 2012, including pipelines, were now estimated at £20 billion.
Of this £3.2 billion was exploration activity and £16.3 billion for field developments.