Barents Sea features big in Norway's 2023 APA round

Norway's energy ministry has proposed putting 92 new offshore oil and gas blocks on offer in its next licensing round for mature areas, 78 of them in the Barents Sea and the rest in the Norwegian Sea.

"Facilitating new discoveries in the north is important both for Europe, the country and the region," energy minister Terje Aasland said.

The 2023 licensing round for mature areas - known as awards in pre-defined areas (APA) - will be carried out in line with the normal timetable, with an application deadline in the third quarter of this year and awards made in January 2024, according to the ministry.

In Norway's 2022 APA licensing round, 25 companies were offered ownership interests in 47 licences earlier this month, 29 of which were in the North Sea, 16 in the Norwegian Sea and just two in the Barents Sea.

The APA rounds, which began in 2003, are held every year and offer firms the chance to bid for mature areas with known geology and well-developed or planned infrastructure. Norway also conducts numbered licensing rounds in frontier areas, which are characterised by less knowledge about the geology, greater technical challenges and a lack of infrastructure.

The frontier rounds are typically held every other year, but the government said it is not planning to launch any more during the current parliament, which runs until September 2025. The probability of making oil and gas discoveries in mature areas is higher than in frontier areas, but it is less likely that major new discoveries will be made.

By Lina Bulyk