The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has awarded 53 new oil production licences to 28 companies on the Norwegian continental shelf in the licensing round APA 2021. The licences are located in the North Sea (28), the Norwegian Sea (20) and the Barents Sea (5), and they give the exclusive right to explore, drill and extract petroleum within the license's geographical area. 15 companies are offered one or more operatorships. The Norwegian state-owned oil and gas company Equinor secured 26 licences, including 12 in the North Sea, 10 in the Norwegian Sea og 4 in the Barents Sea; the group won 12 licences as operator and 14 licences as partner. Other winners include Aker BP (15 licences, 7 operatorships), Vår Energi and Lundin (10 licences and 5 operatorships each).
In June 2020, Norway extended its forbidden area for oil exploration in the country’s Arctic waters (so-called ice edge boundary). The new limit is located where sea ice appeared 15% of the time in April from 1988 to 2017, whereas the previous boundary was based on 30% probability and the years between 1967 and 1989. The new line remains sufficiently far north and doesn't affect existing explorations licences. This measure was upheld by the Supreme Court of Norway in December 2020.
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