Norway offered 76 new blocks to explore for oil and gas in the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea on Friday in a so-called APA licensing round, an annual event awarding acreage in mature parts of the continental shelf, the energy ministry said.
Norway is Europe's biggest supplier of natural gas and a major producer of crude, pumping on average more than four million barrels of oil equivalent per day, but faces an expected decline in output in coming years as older fields are depleted.
"We will explore more, find more and extract more," Energy Minister Terje Aasland said in a statement.
"Further exploration is essential in order to limit the decline in output after 2030," he added.
Eight of the new blocks were in the Norwegian Sea while 68 were in the Arctic Barents Sea.
The deadline for oil companies to submit applications is September 2, and with awards expected to be announced in early 2026, the ministry said.
(Reuters - Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Essi Lehto)
