‘It is very encouraging to see that the companies have strong confidence in the opportunities for making new discoveries. We have received applications from a total of 21 companies. New licensing rounds are a cornerstone of our efforts to further develop the petroleum industry. Continued exploration and new discoveries are crucial for Norway to remain a stable supplier of oil and gas. Continued development of the industry is important for safeguarding Norway’s economy and jobs, financing the welfare state and ensuring Europe’s energy security,’ 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. The APA area now comprises the majority of the areas on the continental shelf that Stortinget (Norwegian parliament) has opened and made available for the award of new production licenses.

APA 2026 was announced on 5 May 2026. By the application deadline of 1 September, the Ministry had received applications for new awards of production licenses from a total of 21 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 North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea by a total of 70 blocks (or parts of blocks).

The aim is to award new production licenses under the licensing round at the beginning of 2027.

Full announcement text, updated maps 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:

A/S Norske Shell

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

Kistos Energy Norway 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

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.