‘Exploration and new discoveries are crucial for jobs and value creation. It is important that companies continue to explore so the petroleum activity can be further developed. Therefore, I am pleased to see that there is still strong interest and that companies have faith in the opportunities that lie in further exploration on the Norwegian continental shelf. This facilitates Norway’s continued role as a stable and predictable supplier of oil and gas to Europe,‘ said Minister of Energy Terje Aasland.

Awards in predefined areas (APA) is the annual licensing round for the best-known exploration areas on the Norwegian continental shelf that are not already licensed. It comprises the majority of the available exploration areas.

APA 2025 was announced May 9th 2025. By the application deadline of September 2nd, the Ministry had received applications for new awards from a total of 20 companies. The Ministry does not publish the total number of applications because of competitive considerations.

The APA area is being expanded as geological knowledge in areas on the Norwegian shelf increases. In this year’s licensing round, the predefined area was expanded in the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea.

The aim is to award new production licenses in the announced areas at the beginning of 2026.

Full announcement text, updated map of announced blocks, HSE, environmental and fisheries conditions and further information is available on the Norwegian Offshore Directorate’s website.

List of companies that have applied:

Aker BP ASA
Concedo AS
ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS
DNO Norge AS
Equinor Energy AS
Harbour Energy Norge AS
INPEX Idemitsu Norge AS
Japex Norge AS
Lime Petroleum AS
OKEA ASA
OMV Norge AS
ORLEN Upstream Norway AS
Pandion Energy AS
Petrolia NOCO AS
Repsol Norge AS
Source Energy AS
Sval Energi AS
TotalEnergies EP Norge AS
Vår Energi ASA
Wellesley Petroleum AS

Background

Before licenses can be granted for petroleum activity in an area on the Norwegian continental shelf, the area must be open for petroleum activities. Production licenses can only be granted in areas that are open and accessible for petroleum activities.

A production license gives the exclusive right to explore, drill and extract petroleum within the license’s geographical area. Production licenses are normally awarded through licensing rounds. In a licensing round, the ministry announces certain geographical areas where companies can apply for production licenses. On the basis of the applications received, a production license is granted to a group of companies on the basis of objective, non-discriminatory and pre-announced criteria. The Ministry designates one operator for each production license.

The annual licensing rounds APA (Awards in predefined areas) were introduced in 2003. The aim was to best facilitate the identification and extraction of profitable resources in mature areas before existing infrastructure shuts down. The APA licensing rounds take place annually and within a predefined area. This gives the companies predictability about the available areas to apply for in the APA. This facilitates regular replenishment of new exploration area for the companies, which is important for achieving effective exploration. Over time, the APA area is expanded based on petroleum professional assessments of the areas’ maturity, and in particular the need for step-by-step exploration and utilization of time-critical resources. Today, the APA area comprises the majority of open, accessible exploration area on the Norwegian continental shelf.