The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has 9 May 2018 announced the APA 2018, comprising the predefined areas with blocks in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. 

Application deadline

The application deadline for APA 2018 is 12:00 on Tuesday 4 September 2018. The awards will be announced during the first quarter of 2019.

Application Area

The predefined areas (APA acreage) have been expanded with 47 blocks in the Norwegian Sea and 56 blocks in the Barents Sea since APA 2017. Applications can be submitted for any blocks or parts of blocks within the predefined areas that are not already included in a licence three months before the closing date for application. This entails that acreage which is relinquished in the application period is regarded as announced at the time of governmental approved relinquishment. The acreage will be included consecutively in the predefined areas on NPD's interactive fact maps, and a definite map of the acreage finally on offer will be available as soon as possible after the deadline (closing date) for relinquishment 4 June 2018.

Map showing predefined areas at announcement date.