German energy company Wintershall said Wednesday there were emerging opportunities offshore Norway, where it's one of the largest stakeholders.

Wintershall said it won eight exploration licenses, serving as the operator at three, during the latest auction held by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. With 50 licenses already in its books, the German oil and gas company is among the largest stakeholders in Norway.

"As one of the fastest growing oil and gas companies in Norway, we are focused on turning our exploration success into developments and production," regional managing director Bernd Schrimpf said in a statement. "It is critical that we continue to replenish our license portfolio so that we can continue to operate in this way."

The Norwegian government handed out 54 licenses for operations in the North, Norwegian and Barents seas during the latest auction, which concluded Tuesday. Companies from Scotland-based Cairn Energy to Italian company Eni were among those securing access to new acreage on the Norwegian continental shelf.

Energy Minister Tord Lien said in a statement the results show Norwegian waters remain an attractive investment opportunity for the global energy sector. The government cautioned, however, that the mature areas auctioned off might not yield large-scale discoveries.

"Minor discoveries will not be able to carry standalone developments, but may have good profitability when they can exploit existing and planned processing equipment and transportation systems, or be seen in context with other discoveries or planned developments," the energy ministry stated. "Timely discovery and exploitation of such resources is therefore important."

The government added it was calling on companies working in arctic waters to observe requirements related to distance from ice sheets "so the environmental assets along the ice edge are safeguarded."

Norway is one of the main energy exporters to the European market. The government said oil production in December was 7 percent less than in December 2013, but 1 percent higher for full year 2014, when compared with the previous year.