Norway awards 57 drilling licenses in offshore oil and gas exploration round

Norway's Energy Minister told an industry conference that the country awarded shares in 57 offshore oil exploration licenses to 19 companies as part of its annual licensing round.

The number of permits awarded to oil and gas companies has decreased from 20.

Norway's plan to extend oil and gas production in Norway for decades is centrally based on the?annual predefined areas (APA) round of new offshore exploration acres. However, activity will?decrease in the next few years.

Norway is Europe's largest energy supplier, but production will begin to fall in a few short years. We need to develop new projects which can slow down the decline and increase production.

The policy is a fiercely contested issue by the

Green Party

Environmental groups protested outside the venue of the conference. Reporting by Nora Buli, Nerijus Adomiaitis and Terje Solsvik

(source: Reuters)