* 40 firms awarded stakes, 23 of these have operatorships * Oil majors awarded operatorships: Shell, Total * Applicant BP left empty-handed By Gwladys Fouche SANDEFJORD, Norway, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Norway awarded 51 oiland gas production licenses in a mature area licensing round,the country's oil minister said on Tuesday, attracting recordinterest from firms spurred on by high oil prices and renewedexploration prospects. Forty-eight blocks or partial blocks were originally put onoffer, mostly in the North Sea, which has seen its prospectsrejuvenated after the recent discovery of the giant JohanSverdrup oilfield. The biggest oil companies to get operatorships in licenseswere Royal Dutch Shell and Total, as well asNorway's Statoil. ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips were awarded stakes in fields. Applicant BP did not receive anything. "I am pleased to see strong, broad-based interest in themost well-known parts of the continental shelf," the country'soil and energy minister Ola Borten Moe said in a statement. Thirty-five licenses were awarded in the North Sea, 13 inthe Norwegian Sea and three in the Barents Sea. The licensing round announced Tuesday did not includeunexplored areas in the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea, whichwill be offered separately later this year, and which willheavily focus on the Arctic.