The Norwegian government has offered 38 offshore production licenses in its "awards in predefined areas" (APA 2009) round.
License interests went to 42 companies, of which 19 will be operators, with work obligations covering a range of exploration and production activity (see table).
APA 2009 was Norway's seventh licensing round focusing on mature offshore areas.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy offered 25 production licenses in the North Sea, 10 in the Norwegian Sea, and 3 in the Barents Sea.
It received applications for licenses from 44 companies.
In a press statement, the ministry noted declining expectations for the size of discoveries in mature areas and the need for small discoveries to have access to producing facilities in existing oil and gas fields.
"It is therefore important to discover and develop resources in these areas before existing infrastructure in connection to other fields is shut down," it said.
Companies offered licenses to operate and their numbers are AS Norske Shell, one; Bridge Energy AS, one; Centrica Resources (Norge) AS, one; ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS, one; Dana Petroleum Norway AS, one; DNO ASA, six; Dong E&P Norge AS, one; E.On Ruhrgas Norge AS, one; GDF Suez E&P Norge AS, one; Lotos Exploration & Production Norge AS, one; Lundin Norway AS, four; Marathon Petroleum Norge AS, three; Nexen Exploration Norge AS, one; Norwegian Energy Co. ASA, two; OMV (Norge) AS, two; Repsol Exploration Norge AS, one; Rocksource ASA, one; Statoil Petroleum AS, six; and Wintershall Norge AS, three.
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