STAVANGER, Norway—Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg has launched the country’s 24th oil licensing round for new exploration areas, mostly off Northern Norway.

Speaking during the Offshore Northern Seas (ONS) conference and exhibition, she said the nominated areas would be confirmed before the summer of 2017, with acreage awards to follow during first-half 2018.

Solberg stressed the importance of maintaining a “steady and predictable” petroleum policy after launching the round, with the oil and gas sector set to remain the country’s most important industry for decades to come.

Companies must nominate their proposed blocks by Nov. 30, 2016, with nominated blocks divided into two categories: “interesting” and “very interesting.” The total number of blocks that can be nominated is limited to 15.

“A central element of the policy is to offer a high number of awards in prospective exploration acreage,” Solberg said. “Starting the 24th licensing round today is a concrete follow-up of this policy.”

Norway’s Petroleum and Energy Minister Tord Lien added: “Awarding prospective exploration acreage is a central element in order to maintain employment, activity and high value creation. This is particularly important in the present situation with weaker employment figures in the petroleum industry and related industries.

“The results that we got from the 23rd licensing round were really good, in my opinion, when we have seen that shelves elsewhere in the world have really struggled to put forward new acreage,” he continued. “We went through with quite a successful round. Now, in a rebalancing market, I have great expectations that the industry will be eager to nominate and later apply for acreage on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.”

The ministry is accepting nominations for acreage in the Barents Sea, Norwegian Sea and North Sea. In the Norwegian Sea, laying the foundation for efficient utilization of the existing transport system—in which there will be considerable spare capacity after 2020—is important for future exploration activities, the ministry stressed in a news release.

Norway’s strategy for licensing rounds in newly opened and frontier areas, such as the Barents Sea, has mainly adhered to the principle of sequential exploration. This means results of wells in certain blocks in a given area should be available and evaluated before new blocks are announced in the same area. This approach, according to the ministry, ensures that large areas can be mapped with relatively few exploration wells. In this manner, available information is used for further exploration, while drilling of unnecessary, dry wells can be avoided.

The ministry also hopes to put forward a proposition to the Norwegian Parliament before summer 2018 regarding the controversial potential offering of acreage in the pristine Lofoten Islands area in Norway’s far north, Lien added.