The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy of Norway has launched a new oil licensing round in mature fields, the Awards in Pre-defined Areas (APA) 2015. The predefined areas will be extended to include 35 new blocks in the Norwegian Sea and 11 blocks in the Barent Sea. Applications must be submitted by 2 September 2015 and the awards will be announced during the first quarter of 2016. In the APA 2014, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate had issued 54 oil production licenses to 47 companies, including 34 licenses located in the North Sea, 16 in the Norwegian Sea and 4 in the Barents Sea.
In addition, the Ministry is considering financial support to Statoil's Johan Castberg project in the Arctic and plans to ask European competition authorities whether it can provide state aid for the project. In March 2015, Statoil decided to postpone the decision to continue ("DG2") for the oil project to the second half of 2016 and the final investment decision to 2017. The proven volumes in Johan Castberg are estimated at between 400 and 650 mbl of oil but the project has been delayed three times since 2013 at Statoil was seeking to reduce costs: production costs are estimated at nearly US$80/bbl (even with offshore loading), which is much above the current US$63/bbl level.