In connection with the 17th licensing round on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, 11 companies will receive offers to participate in new production licenses. The companies will be offered participation in a total of 18 blocks or parts of blocks.

- The 17th licensing round signifies a new focus on the Norwegian Sea. This area is an exciting petroleum province. There is great interest amongst the oil companies to participate in the future exploration of this part of the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Several of the blocks are in deep-water areas with substantial technological challenges However, these blocks also represent considerable possibilities for making new, large discoveries, says Einar Steensnæs, Minister of Petroleum and Energy.

At the same time the Government emphases the need to secure a good balance between considerations for the petroleum activities and those of the environment and other important public interests. Our goal is that petroleum activities shall coexist with other industries within the framework of sustainable development, says Minister Steensnæs.

The 17th licensing round was announced in December 2001, with deadline for submission of applications in March 2002.

The following companies have been offered operatorship (numbers in parenthesis):
Norsk Hydro (2), Agip (1), Phillips (1), Shell (1), and Statoil (1).

The following companies have been offered participation:
BP, Gaz de France, ChevronTexaco, Conoco, DONG, and RWE-DEA.

Map showing blocks in pdf-format
Area map in pdf-format