Oil Firms Take 'great interest' in exploring Norway's Arctic

Oil companies are expressing great interest in exploring Norway's Arctic Barents Sea ahead of the government's latest licensing round, the 24th such round since awards were first made in the 1965, Oil and Energy Minister Terje Soeviknes said.

• "The new signals today regarding the 24th round is that companies are taking a big interest, with particularly extensive and exciting nominations of acreage being made for the Barents Sea," he told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry confrence.
• In this context, the oil ministry will launch a round of hearings within a few weeks, he added
• The ministry will announce before the summer which acreage will be available for inclusion in the final application for the 24th round
• Norway should maintain a policy of rapid awards of new offshore oil and gas exploration acreage Soeviknes said, adding that this applied both to the numbered (regular) licensing rounds and the (annual) TFO licence awards in predefined areas
• Says 2017 TFO includes a large expansion of acreage both in the Norwegian Sea and particularly the Barents Sea

Reporting by Joachim Dagenborg