Norway's government should maintain oil and gas exploration and development in the Barents Sea in order to manage the country's declining output, the head of the International Energy Agency said Monday.

The Norwegian side of the Barents Sea is the country's last largely unexplored oil and gas province, estimated to hold 21.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The oil and gas industry has repeatedly called for the Norland VI and VII areas around Lofoten Island to be opened up, saying they potentially hold some of the last giant petroleum fields on the NCS.