The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has dished out a dozen licences to 10 companies in its supplementary 2016 North Sea bidding round.
The regulator said 11 of the 14 blocks on offer had been snapped up.
Shell, EnQuest, Statoil, Apache, Maersk and BP are among the companies to have secured licences.
Oil firms Jetex, Speedwell and Actis also received awards.
Aberdeen-based Speedwell scooped up two of the licences.
The OGA initially said 11 companies had been given licences, but later clarified that 10 businesses had been successful.
OGA chief executive Andy Samuel said today that the results were a good omen ahead of the upcoming 30th round.
Mr Samuel said: “We’re listening to industry and are pleased to make available a number of additional, nominated areas.
“The strong interest in this round bodes well for the forthcoming 30th round, demonstrating the renewed attractiveness of the UKCS and the opportunity for operators to rebuild their portfolios with a mixture of exploration, development and re-development activity.”
The supplementary round opened in December and closed in March.
It was launched in addition to the 29th licensing round, during which 25 licences for more than 100 blocks were handed down.
The 29th round was the first in two decades to focus solely on frontier areas, including the Rockall Basin. Majors including Statoil, BP, Shell and ExxonMobil all snapped up seabed space.
The 30th round is expected to be announced during the third quarter of 2017 and will focus on mature areas of the UK continental shelf.
The OGA previously said the 30th round could be the “most significant” in decades.