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By Nerijus Adomaitis
OSLO, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Norway will offer oil firms
exploration blocks in nine frontier areas in its latest
licensing round, including eight regions of the Arctic Barents
Sea and one in the Norwegian Sea, the Ministry of Petroleum and
Energy and the Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said on Thursday.
The government offered 136 blocks, in line with a
preliminary indication made in June, including 125 in the
Barents Sea, in a major expansion of oil exploration in the
Arctic.
"New discoveries are necessary to ensure continued activity,
ripple effects, employment and governmental revenues throughout
the country," Minister of Petroleum and Energy Tina Bru said in
a statement.
The deadline for applications is Feb. 23 of next year.
Environmental groups have said Norway's drive to find more
Arctic oil and gas contradicts the country's international
commitments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions (CO2).
The Norwegian Supreme Court is due to rule in the coming
weeks or months on the legality of an earlier licensing round in
the Arctic.
Two lower courts have ruled in the government's favour,
however, and the state has argued that decisions on future oil
exploration are ultimately the domain of parliament, not the
courts.
"Petroleum activities in Norway are subject to stringent
health, safety and environment requirements, as well as
requirements to safeguard the external environment," Bru said.
Norway is western Europe's top oil and gas producer with
daily output of some 4 million barrels of oil equivalent.
The government estimates the Barents Sea to hold about
two-thirds of the remaining undiscovered oil and gas resources
off Norway, although companies have so far failed to make major
finds.
There are only two producing fields and one field under
development in the Barents Sea.
Norway's state-controlled Equinor, Sweden's Lundin
Energy and Norway's Vaar Energi, a susbidiary of
Italy's Eni, say they are still keen on exploring in
the frigid northern waters.
But oil majors such as Shell and ConocoPhillips
did not seek to explore in the Barents Sea in the
previous frontier areas licensing round.
(Editing by Terje Solsvik;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
