Equinor, which is majority owned by the Norwegian state, unsurprisingly led the awards, but 23 other firms made up the winners of the latest oil and gas licensing round.
Norway has made offers for oil and gas licences across the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea in its “awards in pre-defined areas (APA)” 2023 round.
Equinor gained 39 awards across operated and non-operated licences.
Aker BP came second place with 27 awards, followed by Var Energi with 16.
Of the 62 production licences, 29 are in the North Sea, 25 in the Norwegian Sea and eight in the Barents Sea.
A total of 16 of the production licences are additional acreage for existing production licences.
See below for a region-by-region breakdown:
North Sea:
-29 licences awarded.
-Top operator: Aker BP (12 awards, all operated)
© Supplied by Norwegian Offshore D
Norwegian Sea:
-25 licences awarded
-Top operator (Wintershall Dea with four operated, six non operated)
© Supplied by Norwegian Offshore D
Barents Sea:
-Eight awards made.
-Top operator: Equinor (four operated and 3 non-operated)
© Supplied by Norwegian Offshore DKalmar Ildstad, director of licence management in the Norwegian Offshore Directorate, said: “We can see that the companies still have plenty of faith in making more discoveries in areas with familiar geology and close to existing infrastructure.
“It’s important to prove resources so that available capacity in established process plants and pipeline systems can be utilised. This means that even small discoveries can yield significant value creation.”
Equinor’s Jez Averty, senior vice president for subsurface for the Norwegian continental shelf, said: “These licences give Equinor and our partners new opportunities to further develop the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) as an energy province. We are familiar with the geology and confident that we will make new discoveries.”
The Norway oil and gas licences come as the UK Government is expected to issue up to 88 more awards for the British offshore sector in the coming weeks.
Earlier this week, Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf slammed the awards, while Viaro Energy CEO Francesco Mazzagatti argued rounds should continue until the year 2035.
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