Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS)

The Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) is the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas under Norwegian jurisdiction, where Norway exercises sovereign rights over petroleum resources under UNCLOS Articles 76 and 77. Petroleum activity is governed by the Petroleum Act of 1996 and licensed by the Ministry of Energy, with safety regulated by the Petroleum Safety Authority (now Havtil). The NCS spans the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea, and the Barents Sea, and hosts fields such as Ekofisk, Troll, and Johan Sverdrup; the median-line boundary with the UK was set by the 1965 agreement.