Norway awards 57 production licenses to 19 companies in APA 2025 round
Jan 13, 2026
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Thin section from the Ørn Formation, of Carboniferous and Permian age. The thin section is from a well drilled on the central Finnmark Platform in the Barents Sea and shows limestone with fossils from approximately 2,000 m.
The Norwegian Ministry of Energy has offered 57 new production licenses to 19 companies on the Norwegian continental shelf in the APA 2025 licensing round. Of the total awards, 31 licenses are located in the North Sea, 21 in the Norwegian Sea and five in the Barents Sea. Each license includes a defined work program aimed at advancing exploration or appraisal activity.
Equinor received 35 licenses, including 17 operatorships, spanning the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea. The company said the awarded acreage supports continued exploration around existing infrastructure as well as positions in less mature areas of the shelf.
Aker BP was offered interests in 22 licenses and named operator for 12 of them. The associated work programs include committed exploration drilling and seismic acquisition intended to accelerate evaluation of the acreage.
Vår Energi was awarded 14 licenses, including six operatorships, primarily in mature areas across the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea.
DNO secured interests in 17 licenses, including four operatorships, with most of the acreage located in the North Sea and the remainder in the Norwegian Sea.
Additional awards were offered to Harbour Energy Norge, OMV (Norge), OKEA, Orlen Upstream Norway, ConocoPhillips Skandinavia, INPEX Idemitsu Norge, Wellesley Petroleum and other companies. The Ministry of Energy designated an operator for each license as part of the APA 2025 round.
