Summary

The player landscape on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) plays a significant role in how resources are developed. Changes in the player landscape impact competition, technological development and value creation. When the number and composition of players change, this can lead to consequences for investments, innovation and future resource utilisation.

A changing player landscape can affect both the pace of development on the NCS, and which concepts are prioritised. Therefore, it is important that these changes are carefully monitored to facilitate understanding of the drivers that will shape the NCS in the years to come.

This study deals with activity in the exploration phase on the NCS, from award of production licences to potential discoveries. The production phase will be discussed in a separate study.
Having a diversity of companies is particularly important in the exploration phase. Diversity promotes efficiency through competition, and helps to ensure a broader range of ideas, interest in different types of exploration concepts, as well as application of varied technologies and work methods.

This study delves deeper into how the player landscape is evolving, and the significance this carries for both exploration activity and resource growth on the NCS.

This study shows that the number of companies on the NCS is at its lowest level since the start of oil and gas activities. The shift in exploration activity reveals increasing domination by Norwegian companies and companies whose dominant activity is on the NCS.

The composition of licensees in licences at the time of award can give some indication about the collaboration between the companies in the exploration phase. We see that composition patterns have changed, with fewer companies overall, and a distinct shift towards Norwegian players as far as company categories.

The player landscape is now characterised by fewer companies overall, with a clear dominance by Norwegian players. New groups, such as Norwegian oil and gas specialists and Oil and gas investors, have entered, while several international companies have sold their stakes and exited the NCS.

 

Development in the player landscape

Company categories

For the purposes of this study, the companies are divided according to strategy and business segment, including size (in the form of market value), geographical origin, whether the company takes stakes in the entire or just parts of the value chain, as well as ownership interests in production licences (Figure 2.1). A more detailed description of company categories is provided in the table below. 

Company category	Description
Norwegian state owned companies	Companies wholly or partly owned by the Norwegian state, with operations on the Norwegian continental shelf (NOCs)
Norwegian oil and gas specialists	Public companies primarily focused on oil and gas activities on the Norwegian continental shelf
Exploration companies	Companies engaged solely in oil and gas exploration, without production activity
E&P companies	Companies engaged in both exploration and production, mainly on the Norwegian continental shelf
Oil and gas investors	Companies involved in exploration and production, financed by investment funds or private equity
European industrial/energy companies	Large European energy corporations with industrial operations and a broad energy profile, including oil, gas, refining, and chemicals
International oil and gas companies	International oil and gas companies, excluding North American ones, including both state-owned (NOCs) and private companies
US majors	Large integrated American oil and gas companies
European majors	Large integrated European oil and gas companies
North American oil and gas companies	North American oil and gas companies, including both integrated and independent players

 

Figure 2.1 Company categories and companies on the NCS (as of 31 December 2024). The figure shows all companies that were active as of 31 December 2024, distributed by company category. 

The development in total number of companies and number within the various company categories is shown in Figure 2.2. 

2.2 Player landscape on the NCS

The total number of companies peaked in 1980-1982 with 44 companies and in 2013 with 57 companies. There were 24 companies in 2024, the lowest number since this activity commenced on the NCS.

History and evolution

North American oil and gas companies have had a long history on the NCS, with a significant presence since the very beginning in 1965 (Figure 2.2). These companies, along with other major international companies, have played an important role in building up expertise and infrastructure on the NCS. The number of companies in this category started to decline from the 1980s and disappeared entirely in 2022.

The need for a broader player landscape emerged as the maturing NCS was more thoroughly explored and several major international companies merged. There was still a need for the major international companies to take on the more demanding and capital-intensive projects. At the same time, it was important to attract companies that had a greater focus on smaller projects.

In the early 2000s, the authorities implemented several measures to make it easier and more attractive for new players to enter the NCS. Examples include a prequalification system for companies, Awards in predefined areas (the NSA/APA rounds) and the exploration reimbursement scheme. Together with rising oil prices, these measures led to an increase in both the number and diversity of companies. This was particularly evident in the Exploration companies and European industrialists/energy companies categories, where many new players entered the NCS during this time. Moreover, groups such as Oil and gas investors and Oil and gas specialists gained a foothold and contributed towards broadening company diversity.

Oil prices fell dramatically during the last half of 2014 – from more than USD 100 per barrel to under USD 50 per barrel by the end of the year. In an international perspective, this led to considerable consolidation of companies. Many major players reduced investments, and cost-cutting became a main focus. This, in combination with a more mature NCS, contributed to the exit of several international companies.  

In recent years, there have been several company consolidations on the NCS, which has resulted in companies strengthening their positions, while European industry/energy companies have increased their commitments to renewable energy and have, in part, sold or reduced their ownership stakes on the NCS.

This Sankey diagram for the period 2018–2025 (Figure 2.3) illustrates how the player landscape on the NCS has been reshaped through consolidation and strategic shifts. 

Figure 2.3 Mergers and divestments of companies 2018-2025.

There has been an increase in the number of Oil and gas investors, as well as the introduction of a new category: Norwegian oil and gas specialists. 

Seven new companies have entered the NCS during these years, while 8 have exited. At the same time, 15 companies have been absorbed through acquisitions. European industry/energy companies have declined from 13 to 3 companies, while Major American companies and Exploration companies have, in part, withdrawn from the NCS.

 

Figure 2.4 illustrates entry and exit of companies between 2013 and 2024. 

Figure 2.4 Entry and exit of companies on the NCS 2013-2024 (based on ownership interests in production licences as of 31 December 2024).

 

Exploration activity and resource growth

Investments in exploration

Average exploration costs in the last decade are substantially lower than in the previous decade. Figure 3.1 shows investments in exploration on the NCS distributed by the various company categories over the past 20 years. 

Figure 3.1 Exploration costs distributed by company categories, 2005-2024.

Norwegian state companies, Norwegian oil and gas specialists, E&P companies  and Exploration companies are types of companies which mainly target the NCS, with little or no activity in other petroleum provinces (with the exception of Equinor). These companies account for around 60 per cent of the exploration costs in the last decade. 

Drilling wildcat wells

In a similar manner as for exploration investments, the longer term trend in number of wildcat wells drilled over time, with the exception of 2019, reveals lower activity in the last decade than in the previous one (Figure 3.2).

However, the trend is not as pronounced as for investments in exploration. Companies with their main focus on the NCS primarily account for the largest percentage of wildcat wells over the last decade (around 60 per cent). European industrialists/energy companies and the other international companies account for the largest share of the decline in number of wildcat wells.  

The figure also shows the number of wildcat wells distributed by company category in the various sea areas. Companies with a significantly greater part of their activities on the NCS dominate in the North Sea and in the Barents Sea. However, the diversity of companies seen in the North and Norwegian Seas can’t be observed in the Barents Sea.

Figure 3.2 Number of wildcat wells spudded, distributed by overall company types on the NCS, and by sea areas, 2005-2024.

Figure 3.3 shows that the number of wildcat (spudded) wells drilled more than 65 kilometres from infrastructure has declined in the past decade, as compared with the previous decade. Most wildcat wells are drilled close to existing infrastructure. This is particularly true for the past five years.

Norwegian state companies are drilling the majority of these wells and, in the past four years, only Norwegian state companies and Norwegian oil and gas specialists have drilled wildcat wells more than 65 kilometres from planned and existing infrastructure.

Figure 3.3 Number of spudded wildcat wells drilled more than 65 kilometres from infrastructure, distributed by operators within company categories, 2005-2024.

Resource growth

Resource growth over the past decade is substantially reduced, as compared with the previous decade (Figure 3.4). While companies, whose main focus is on the NCS, account for 67 per cent of resource growth in the past decade, the comparable shares for European industry/energy companies and other types of companies are 17 and 16 per cent respectively.

Figure 3.4 Resource growth distributed by company categories, 2005-2024.

 

Composition of licensees at time of award

Visualising networks can provide insight into how companies and types of companies collaborate in the various phases of licences – from exploration to production and decommissioning. The need for cooperation and player diversity will presumably vary among the respective phases, based on both technical and commercial factors.

Figure 4.1 illustrates a network figure  for groups of companies at the time licences are awarded. Companies apply for ownership interests either on their own, or as partners in a joint venture with multiple companies. The ultimate licensee composition is determined by the authorities. This composition can change through acquisition, sale and swap of ownership interests in the secondary market, while most transactions take place after the exploration phase. Consequently, the composition at the time of award can provide a picture of collaborative patterns between the companies in the exploration phase.

Figure 4.1 shows that collaboration in the initial period is characterised by a broad range of national, European and international companies. In the final period, the collaborative pattern is more dominated by Norwegian players. Figure 4.2 shows a comparable network figure at company level. 

Figure 4.1 Network visualisation of the composition of licensees at time of award, distributed by company categories. The size of the bubbles (nodes) shows the relative proportion of licences distributed by company categories.

Figure 4.2 Network visualisation of licensee composition at award, distributed by companies.