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Norway awards 10 new oil licences for exploration in Arctic

* Norway opens for exploration zone bordering Russia

* Statoil (LSE: 0M2Z.L - news) , Lundin Petroleum (LSE: 0NNR.L - news) among licence winners

* Russia's Lukoil (Other OTC: LUKOF - news) , DEA win participating interests

* Greenpeace criticises awards (Adds details of awards, minister's comments, Greenpeace comments)

OSLO, May 18 (Reuters) - Norway has awarded 10 oil licences to energy companies in the Arctic, opening new acreage for exploration for the first time in two decades and granting access to an offshore zone bordering Russia.

Norway is hoping the new areas will help boost a sector that has been shedding projects, costs and jobs due to a 57 percent decline in crude prices since mid-2014.

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Western Europe's largest oil and gas producing country is also keen to award licences in new acreage to maintain its overall production level, as output in the mature North Sea declines.

"This will contribute to employment, growth and value creation in Norway," Norwegian oil and energy minister Tord Lien said in a statement.

Environmental group Greenpeace criticised the awards.

"It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) is with shock and anger we register that Norway is violating two recent environmental agreements, just to get their hands on Arctic oil," Greenpeace Norway head Truls Gulowsen said.

Lien told Reuters the government "is pursuing a policy that has broad support in the Norwegian parliament".

"If the companies can't operate safely they can't get permission to do business, that's the same for the North Sea and the Barents Sea," he said, adding the Arctic exploration was in line with existing legislation.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP - news) , Chevron (Euronext: CHTEX.NX - news) , Norway's Statoil (Hamburg: 1245893.HM - news) and Det norske, as well as Sweden's Lundin Petroleum were among the licence winners.

Some 13 firms will be offered participating interests in a total of 40 blocks, which cover the 10 production licences. Five companies will be offered operatorships.

Oil firm DEA, controlled by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's LetterOne, won participation in two licences.

Of the 10 licenses, three are in an offshore area bordering Russia. Russian oil major Lukoil won participation in one of those three.

In a separate statement, Lundin Petroleum said one area, close to the Russian border, had potential to contain in excess of a billion barrels of oil equivalents, while another licence could contain "several billion barrels".

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said it was hopeful first drilling could start as early as next year.

For the full list of companies that won awards, click on the link:

https://www.regjeringen.no/en/aktuelt/announcement-23rd-licensing-round-awards/id2500936/ (Reporting by Ole Petter Skonnord and Henrik Stolen; editing by Susan Thomas)