About two-thirds of the exploration activity off Norway will be in the North Sea, and the rest in the Norwegian Sea further north and the Barents Sea in the Arctic, the directorate said.
From 25 to 30 new exploration wells are likely to be drilled from floating platforms and between five and 10 from fixed installations, the directorate said.
The projection is based on information from oil and gas operators, the directorate said.
Norway is the world’s third biggest crude exporter after Saudi Arabia and Russia, pumping about three million barrels per day. It is also Western Eur?pe’s biggest natural gas producer.
A four-month rig workers’ strike that ended in late October postponed some exploration drilling in 2004.
Four of the wells planned for 2005 should have been drilled in autumn this year, the directorate said.
The directorate’s exploration director Bente Nyland said in the statement that high oil prices also contributed to the planned increase in activity.
Companies have not secured drilling rigs for all of the wells planned for 2005, Nyland said.
The biggest Norwegian operator, Statoil, has said that it will double its exploration off Norway in 2005, taking part in 18- 20 wells instead of the eight in 2004.
Statoil said earlier this month that it would participate in drilling 9-11 wells in the North Sea, 7-9 in the Norwegian Sea and three in the Barents Sea.
Oil and gas companies have pinned their hopes for big new discoveries on exploration further north as the North Sea has begun to mature as an oil province.
Statistics Norway said earlier this month that total investment in the Norwegian oil and gas sector is expected to rise to a record high 89.5 billion Norwegian crowns ($14.64 billion) in 2005 from 71.9 billion in 2004.
The statistics agency estimated that investment in exploration off Norway would rise next year to 9.0 billion crowns from 4.0 billion this year.