Twenty firms awarded stakes in Norway’s APA 2024 licensing round

Twenty companies have been awarded 53 production licenses on the Norwegian continental shelf as part of Norway’s Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) 2024 licensing round. The Norwegian Ministry of Energy reviewed applications from twenty-one companies.

Of the licenses, 33 are in the North Sea, 19 in the Norwegian Sea, and 1 in the Barents Sea. Twenty of the production licenses are additional acreage to existing production licenses. 

“Continued development of the Norwegian continental shelf is important for employment, value creation, and the ripple effects of petroleum activities on the mainland going forward. We need new discoveries to ensure that Norway can remain a stable and predictable supplier of oil and gas to Europe,” said Minister of Energy, Terje Aasland.

Aker BP ASA was offered interests in 19 exploration licenses with operatorship of 16. Of the 21 licenses, 16 are in the North Sea, 4 in the Norwegian Sea, and 1 in the Barents Sea.

In a release Jan. 14, the operator said the award “consolidates our position as the most active independent exploration company on the NCS.”  

Aker BP is offered licenses in the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea. West of Yggdrasil, Aker BP is offered operatorship on the former Frigg field, where the partnership plans to drill an exploration well already in Q2 2025.  

Equinor was awarded 20 licenses in the North Sea, six in the Norwegian Sea, and one in the Barents Sea. Equinor is the operator of seven of the licenses and a partner in 20.

In its release on the award, the company said there are still “substantial resources on the Norwegian continental shelf,” and that the company and its partners “need to explore more to contribute to European energy security and maintain our position as a reliable supplier of oil and gas,” said Jez Averty, Equinor's senior vice-president for subsurface, the Norwegian continental shelf. Averty said the company will continue to make robust investments, “and our ambition is to drill around 250 exploration wells by 2035. In order to do this, we need regular access to acreage,” he said. 

DNO ASA subsidiary DNO Norge AS has been awarded participation in 13 exploration licenses, of which four are operatorships. Of the 13 new licenses, 10 are in the North Sea and three in the Norwegian Sea.

Sval Energi was awarded seven new exploration licenses, two as operator. INPEX Idemitsu Norge AS was awarded eight licenses, two as operator. 

Firms awarded stakes in licenses without operatorship were Concedo ASA with 3, Lime Petroleum AS 1, M Vest Energy AS 2, Orlen Upstream Norway AS 8, Pandion Energy Norge AS 3, Source Energy AS 1, and TotalEnergies EP Norge AS 2.