Norway announced a reduced number of offshore oil blocks offered for exploration on Wednesday, with licence allocation to be done in light of the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, a minister said.

The Norwegian petroleum and energy ministry launched a call to tenders for licensing on some 94 blocks in the Norwegian and Barents sea, six blocks less than it had planned to offer.

According to Norwegian media, the diminished offer was brought about by tensions between ministries, the environment ministry wanting to limit the number of blocks to 82, and the fisheries ministry calling for 92 blocks to be offered to licensing.

Petroleum and Energy Minister Terje Riis-Johansen said the attribution of new licences, expected in the first half of 2011, "will be done in light of what we are observing today in the Gulf of Mexico."

"Before new licenses are attributed … I will make sure I know enough about what happened in the Gulf of Mexico," he said.

He did not exclude taking more blocks off the list in accordance to what would be learned from the accident on the BP-owned rig.

Some of the blocks offered for licensing are situated in deep-water, in conditions similar to the wells of BP's Deepwater Horizon platform, on which an explosion occurred in April, killing 11 and causing a gigantic oil spill.

Four of the six blocks taken off the initial list are situated near the Lofoten archipelago, currently devoid of any oil and gas activity but eyed by oil companies, to the great displeasure of environmental groups and the fishery industry.

Lars Haltbreeken of the Norwegian branch of Friends of the Earth said the offer was worse than expected.

"The oil minister doesn't care about what environmental experts think and is rolling out the red carpet for the oil industry," he added.

The oil and gas sector accounts for about a quarter of Norway's gross domestic product (GDP).

The country is one of the world's main oil and gas exporters, but no important deposits have been discovered in the past years.

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