Norwegian Offshore Directorate

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate was established in 1972 and is a state-level specialist directorate and public administrative body reporting to Norway's Ministry of Energy.

More Info on Norwegian Offshore Directorate

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) changed its name to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) in January 2024. The name change reflects that the Directorate has been tasked with additional responsibilities in recent years associated with CO2 storage (CCS), offshore wind and seabed minerals.

The NOD says its primary objective is to contribute to the greatest possible values for society from the oil and gas activities through efficient and prudent resource management, where due consideration is given to HSE and other users of the ocean.

Information accurate as of June 2024. 

Articles

Courtesy Norwegian Offshore Directorate
Transocean Norge semisubmersible rig
OMV Norge has completed a successful exploration drilling campaign in PL 1194 in the Norwegian Sea.
Aug. 23, 2024
ID 128055867 © Nataliya Nazarova | Dreamstime.com
Oil and gas offshore Norway
The Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) predicts that Norway’s offshore oil and gas production will start to decline after 2025.
Aug. 22, 2024
Courtesy Norwegian Offshore Directorate
sodir_css
Awards of such areas is a prerequisite for large-scale carbon capture and storage.
June 7, 2024
Courtesy Norwegian Offshore Directorate
structural map
The Norwegian Ministry of Energy has expanded acreage available in the Barents Sea under the current APA license round by 34 blocks.
June 6, 2024
Photo 104906114 © Seadam | Dreamstime.com
seabed_minerals_
The Norwegian Offshore Directorate has entered a memorandum of understanding to collaborate with Greenland and Denmark on acquiring new data on seabed minerals.
April 16, 2024
Courtesy Saipem
Saipem’s Scarabeo 8 semisub drilling rig is able to manage up to six 80-T christmas trees simultaneously.
The Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) has authorized Aker BP to drill three exploration wells in the Barents Sea, using Saipem’s semisub Scarabeo 8.
Feb. 29, 2024
Photo 52690583 © Curraheeshutter | Dreamstime.com
offshore_oil_and_gas
The Norwegian Offshore Directorate wants to see more active exploration of frontier areas to realize more of the resource potential. That means a commitment to testing new ideas...
Jan. 29, 2024
Courtesy NPD
The NPD map highlights oil and gas in place in tight reservoirs distributed by ocean area (data as of Dec. 6). All figures are stated in million standard cubic meters of oil equivalent.
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate is urging E&P companies to find ways of harnessing gas in tight reservoirs across the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
Dec. 7, 2023
Courtesy NPD
offshore_wind_npd
Data from the subsurface surveys in the first phase of Sørlige Nordsjø II (Southern North Sea II) are now ready for download from Diskos.
Nov. 15, 2023
Photo 43762359 © Anupong Nantha | Dreamstime.com
Offshore Oil Gas
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) is making publicly available nearly 6,000 datasets from relinquished areas across the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
Oct. 2, 2023

News

Courtesy Odfjell Drilling
The offshore well was drilled by the Deepsea Yantai rig.
Vår Energi and its partners have made a potentially commercial gas-condensate discovery close to its operated Fenja Field in the Norwegian Sea.
July 21, 2025
Courtesy COSL
COSL Prospector offshore drilling rig
Equinor and its partners have made a gas discovery in the Skred prospect in the Barents Sea.
July 11, 2025
Courtesy Odfjell Drilling
Deepsea Yantai drilling unit offshore.
The Deepsea Yantai semisub has finished drilling a second appraisal well for ConocoPhillips Skandinavia on the 2020 Salgugle oil discovery in the Norwegian Sea.
June 25, 2025
Courtesy Norwegian Offshore Directorate
Map of offered area for storage of CO2
The Norwegian authorities have offered Equinor Low Carbon Solution AS an exploration license in the North Sea for CO2 storage.
June 14, 2025
Courtesy Odfjell Drilling
Deepsea Nordkapp drilling rig in the North Sea
An exploratory well for the Havstjerne CO2 storage project offshore Norway in the North Sea has confirmed a reservoir suitable for injection and storage of carbon dioxide.
June 2, 2025
ID 155731948 © Hyotographics | Dreamstime.com
offshore Norway
The Norwegian Ministry of Energy has made a further offshore area open for CO2 storage, comprising multiple blocks in the North Sea.
March 6, 2025
Courtesy Norwegian Offshore Directorate
Northern Pioneer CO2 transport vessel
Northern Pioneer, said to be the world's first commercial liquefied CO2 transport ship, has arrived in Norway.
Feb. 10, 2025
Courtesy COSL
cosl prospector
Vår Energi has discovered gas in the Elgol prospect in the Barents Sea, but the find may be sub-commercial, according to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate.
Jan. 17, 2025
ID 347301968 © Oleksandra Tsvid | Dreamstime.com
offshore oil and gas
The Norwegian Energy Ministry has offered 20 E&P companies interests in 53 production licenses under Norway’s 2024 pre-defined areas (APA) offshore leasing round.
Jan. 16, 2025
Courtesy Øyvind Gravås & Eirin Lillebø/Equinor
Johan Castberg FPSO heading for the field in Barents Sea
Gas production across the Norwegian Continental Shelf last year reached a new high of 124 Bcm, according to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate.
Jan. 10, 2025

Additional content from Norwegian Offshore Directorate

Courtesy Transocean
Transocean Norge rig
Harbour Energy has confirmed gas with an appraisal well on the Sabina discovery in the Norwegian Sea.
Dec. 12, 2024
Courtesy Norwegian Offshore Directorate
Revised dataset that could facilitate CO2 storage planning
The Norwegian Offshore Directorate has reviewed about 800 wells in the Utsira Group and the Skade Formation in the North Sea to support planning of CO2 storage.
Oct. 17, 2024
Courtesy Norwegian Offshore Directorate
The Norwegian Offshore Directorate believes that new innovations within hydraulic fracturing should lead to the development of more discoveries in tight reservoirs.
The Norwegian Offshore Directorate is inviting the industry to address ways of developing Victoria, one of Norway’s largest untouched offshore gas discoveries.
Oct. 3, 2024
Courtesy the Norwegian Offshore Directorate's Resource Report 2024
Value creation from exploration in the last 20 years (2004–2023)
E&P companies spent about NOK660 billion ($62.5 billion) exploring for oil and gas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf between 2004 and 2023, according to the Norwegian Offshore...
Sept. 25, 2024
Courtesy Norwegian Offshore Directorate
Six companies have applied for CO2 storage acreage
Aker BP, Equinor Low Carbon Solutions, Harbour Energy Norge, Horisont Energi, Storegga Norge and TotalEnergies EP Norge made the applications.
Sept. 16, 2024
Courtesy Norwegian Offshore Directorate
APA 2024 Licensing Round
Production licenses should be awarded in early 2025.
Sept. 9, 2024
Photo 256141375 © Timon Schneider | Dreamstime.com
Npd
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate will be known as the Norwegian Offshore Directorate, while the Petroleum Safety Authority will be renamed the Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority...
Sept. 26, 2023
Courtesy Equinor
This illustration by Equinor depicts the Troll Field in the North Sea.
Eighteen exploration wells drilled in the year to date in Norwegian waters have led to seven discoveries, according to the latest update from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate...
July 5, 2023
Photo 132114666 / Ai © Funtap P | Dreamstime.com
Ai
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate is supporting a pilot project that uses artificial intelligence to search for status reports on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
May 30, 2023
Courtesy NPD/Shutterstock
Vindturbiner Shutterstock
The NPD has identified 20 areas that could be technically suited to offshore wind developments.
April 26, 2023
Courtesy Equinor
Credit Equinor Gas And Condensate Discoveries To Be Developed In The Norwegian Sea
Equinor has permission from the Norwegian authorities to prolong use of subsea facilities on the Mikkel gas-condensate field in the Norwegian Sea until October 2028.
Feb. 17, 2023
Courtesy Norwegian Petroleum Directorate's LinkedIn
Npd Fugro Enviros Vessel
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate says it is continuing its mapping for offshore wind.
Jan. 11, 2023
Photo 9228681 © Trondur | Dreamstime.com
Rough seas hit a semisubmergible oil rig in the North Sea off the coast of Norway.
The gradual withdrawal of Russian gas exports last year helped Norway become Europe’s largest supplier by year-end 2022, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s (NPD...
Jan. 10, 2023
Courtesy Norwegian Petroleum Directorate
Havvinden
The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has assigned the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate to conduct surveys related to future offshore wind acreage awards.
May 19, 2022