Norway’s Energy Ministry on Tuesday awarded 53 hydrocarbon production leases on the country’s continental shelf under last year’s licensing round.
A total of 20 firms, out of 21 that applied under the 2024 Awards in Pre-Defined Areas (APA), were offered ownership interests. Thirteen companies were offered one or more operatorships, according to a list published on the ministry’s website.
“Continued development of the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) is important for employment, value creation, and the ripple effects of petroleum activities on the mainland going forward”, Energy Minister Terje Aasland said in a statement.
“We need new discoveries to ensure that Norway can remain a stable and predictable supplier of oil and gas to Europe. It is therefore very positive to see such great interest in new exploration areas”.
Thirty-three of the new licenses are on Norway’s side of the North Sea. Nineteen are in the Norwegian Sea, while one is in the Norwegian portion of the Barents Sea.
The Nordic nation, the top gas supplier for Europe having overtaken Russia since 2022, holds about 7.1 billion standard cubic meters of oil equivalent remaining resources in its continental shelf. The figure includes 3.5 billion standard cubic meters of oil equivalent undiscovered resources, according to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate’s 2024 “Resource Report”.
Aker BP ASA has the most operatorships, numbering 16, among the 2024 APA winners. It is a participant in a total of 19 licenses under the 2024 APA.
Fornebu, Norway-based Aker BP said in a separate online statement it plans to start drilling in the former Frigg field, which is among its new NCS operatorships, in the second quarter.
“Phasing in oil and gas from new discoveries will be crucial to ensuring long-term activity on the shelf”, said Per Øyvind Seljebotn, senior vice president for exploration and reservoir development at Aker BP.
“Although the shelf is maturing, we manage to continuously identify new opportunities”, Seljebotn added. “Leveraging new technology, digitalization and investments in new data are crucial for creating good exploration opportunities for many years to come and ensuring growth and innovation in our sector.
“Our strategy is to have a portfolio of exploration licenses that provides a good balance between exploration wells near existing fields and infrastructure, and wells that, if successful, can form the basis for standalone developments”.
Norway’s majority state-owned Equinor ASA won the most licenses with 27. It is operator in seven of these.
Jez Averty, Equinor senior vice president for subsurface operations, said in a company statement new acreage will help Equinor’s goal to drill around 250 exploration wells by 2035. Currently it operates or participates in 20–30 exploration wells annually, according to the company.
Like Aker BP, Equinor is focusing on potential tiebacks to accelerate startup and lower costs. It said it plans to drill about 80 percent of new exploration wells near existing infrastructure or in “known geology”.
"We have a significant portfolio of smaller discoveries near existing infrastructure”, Averty said. “We're working alongside the supplier industry to accelerate developments and reduce costs, which will ensure that several of these discoveries can come on stream even earlier”.
However, Averty noted, "Despite most exploration wells being drilled near existing infrastructure, it is important that we also explore new areas and new ideas and concepts with the potential for more major discoveries”.
The company stated, “As regards discoveries that require new development solutions, Equinor will prioritize solutions that yield low emissions”.
“With three gas processing plants, one oil refinery, two oil terminals, an LNG [liquefied natural gas] plant and a pipeline network of nearly 9000 km [5,592.32 miles], the Norwegian oil and gas infrastructure is strategically positioned to deliver energy to our most important markets in Europe and the UK”, it added.
In the third quarter of 2024 Norway continued to be the European Union’s top pipeline gas supplier with a share of 47 percent, according to the European Commission’s latest quarterly gas market report published December 20, 2024. Norway has been the EU's top gas source since the latter half of 2022, months after Russia invaded Ukraine, according to Commission data.
Last year Norway’s natural gas output set a new record with 124 billion standard cubic meters sold, compared to the previous record of 122.8 billion standard cubic meters sold in 2022. Norway’s total oil and gas production last year was the highest since 2009, reaching 240 million standard cubic meters of oil equivalent, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate reported January 9. Gas accounts for over half of production on the NCS, it said, adding most of the gas is exported to Europe.
The other winners in the 2024 APA are Concedo AS (3 licenses), ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS (3), DNO Norge AS (13), Harbour Energy Norge AS (4), INPEX Idemitsu Norge AS (8), Lime Petroleum AS (1), M Vest Energy AS (2), A/S Norske Shell (1), OKEA ASA (8), OMV (Norge) AS (4), Orlen Upstream Norway AS(8), Pandion Energy Norge AS (3), Petrolia NOCO AS (5), Source Energy AS (1), Sval Energi AS (7), TotalEnergies EP Norge AS (2), Vår Energi ASA (16) and Wellesley Petroleum AS (3).
by Jov Onsat