Norway’s government pushed forward on expanding oil and gas exploration on the continental shelf Friday with new permits for the North and Norwegian Seas. The Petroleum Safety Authority said Friday it granted a permit to Aker BP to drill an exploration well in the Volund oil field in the North Sea. Volund is in service through a floating production platform and Aker BP aims to probe the potential for new hydrocarbons about 4 miles west of the infrastructure in place at Volund. In its fourth quarter report , Aker BP reported production from the Volund field was lower than the previous quarter by 16 percent. Elsewhere, the regional subsidiary of Spanish energy company Repsol was given permission by the PSA to drill an exploration […]