Twenty companies have submitted applications for the upcoming oil and gas exploration acreage offerings in the Award in Predefined Areas (APA) 2025 round. The Norwegian Offshore Directorate viewed the level of interest as “encouraging” and proof that there remains industry interest in exploring new acreage in mature areas offshore Norway. APA 2025 was launched in May 2025 with an application deadline of 2 September 2025.
According to the Norwegian Ministry of Energy, the level of interest in the acreage offering was gratifying.
“This will enable Norway to continue to be a stable and predictable oil and gas supplier to Europe,” said Energy Minister Terje Aasland.
The Directorate will now evaluate the applications. Licenses are expected to be awarded beginning in early 2026.
The 20 participating companies were Aker BP, Concedo, ConocoPhillips, DNO, Equinor, Harbour Energy, Inpex, Japex, Lime Petroleum, OKEA, OMV, Orlen Upstream Norway, Pandion Energy, Petrolia Noco, Repsol, Source Energy, Sval Energi (acquired by DNO in June 2025), TotalEnergies, Vår Energi, and Wellesley Petroleum.
The Ministry does not publish the total number of applications received for competitive reasons.
Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) is an annual licensing round for the most well-known exploration areas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) that are not already held by licenses. APA 2025 was expanded to include acreage in the Barents Sea (68 blocks) and the Norwegian Sea (8 blocks).
Annual APA rounds were introduced in 2003, aimed at the identification and development of fresh resources in mature areas before existing infrastructure is shut down. Today, the APA covers most of the available exploration area on the NCS.
