11 companies have applied for production licenses either alone or in groups under the framework of the 24th licensing round on the Norwegian Continental Shelf organized by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD). They include in particular Centrica, Shell, Statoil, DEA and Wintershall. Neither Chevron nor Conoco Phillips or Lukoil are among the applicants. The round includes 102 blocks, of which 9 are in the Norwegian Sea and 93 in the Barents Sea (no block in the North Sea).
The current application figure is significantly lower than in the 23rd round, when 26 companies applied for production licenses. Some companies were discouraged after the last 2017 drilling campaigns in the Barents Sea, where no single significant discovery was made, with several dry wells and lower volumes than expected. Even if all 11 applicants are awarded acreage, the 24th round would still be at a 15-year low in terms of participants.
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