Last checked at 
Awards 62 exploration permits, up from year-ago 47
*
More interest in Arctic Barents Sea drilling
*
Awards are based on applications from oil firms
*
Environmental groups protest Norway's drilling
SANDEFJORD, Norway, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Norway on Tuesday awarded stakes in 62 offshore oil and gas exploration licences to 24 energy companies, including state-controlled Equinor , boosting the amount of acreage offered as the country seeks to pump for decades to come.
The annual award was up from 47 licences a year ago when 25 firms received permits. The increase involved drilling permits in the Arctic Barents Sea and the adjacent Norwegian Sea, the country's energy minister told a conference.
The annual predefined areas (APA) rounds of exploration acreage are central to Norway's strategy of extending its oil and gas production, a policy fiercely opposed by environmentalists, dozens of whom picketed the event.
The licence awards in the Barents Sea, a vast ocean off the northern tip of continental Europe, rose to eight in the new round from just two one year ago, as energy companies expressed more interest in the remote and environmentally harsh region.
"Last year I asked companies to look more closely at Barents Sea opportunities... this award shows that more companies have responded positively and are taking responsibility," Minister of Energy Terje Aasland said.
The awards, based on applications from companies, marked the return of Aker BP to the Barents Sea, which the company had abandoned years ago after spudding a number of dry wells.
"We have a new team, we have new ideas, we have new acreage," Aker BP CEO Karl Johnny Hersvik said, adding the plan was to look mainly for natural gas.
EUROPE'S BIGGEST GAS SUPPLIER
While Norway backs the Paris climate accords and the global goal to transition away from fossil fuels, the country also says the world will need access to oil and gas for many years.
"The government's policies continue to be on a head-on collision course with a sustainable climate," Friends of the Earth Norway head Truls Gulowsen said in a post on social media X.
Norway in 2022 overtook Russia as Europe's biggest gas supplier as Moscow's invasion of Ukraine severed decades-long energy ties. The Nordic country also replaced some of the Russian oil barrels banned by the European Union.
The number of new drilling permits awarded in the North Sea was unchanged year-on-year at 29, while 25 were issued for the Norwegian Sea, up from 16 one year ago.
Equinor was awarded stakes in 39 licences, including 14 it will operate, while the second-largest listed oil firm, Aker BP, received stakes in 27 licences, including 17 it will operate.
Vaar Energi came third with stakes in 16 licences, including four it will operate.
Oil majors Shell and TotalEnergies received stakes in one licence each, while ConocoPhillips received stakes in three.
Norway's overall output amounted last year to around 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, divided equally between oil and natural gas.
Production is expected to remain at this level in the coming years before dropping sharply in the 2030s unless new resources are found and developed. (Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis and Nora Buli in Sandefjord, editing by Terje Solsvik and Barbara Lewis)
