Eni S.P.A’s E majority-owned subsidiary Var Energi AS has been granted 10 exploration licenses by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (“MPE”).Var Energi is one of the largest exploration and production companies on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (“NCS”) and has been awarded the licenses as part of the Awards in Predefined Areas 2020 (APA) licensing process.Notably, Eni has a 69.85% equity interest in the company, while HitecVision AS owns the remaining stake.HitecVision is a Norway-based private investment company, which focuses on the upstream segment of the energy industry.Of the 10 exploration licenses, the Italian energy giant acquired five of the licenses as operators and five as partners. Importantly, the license area of all the awards covers the three major oil and gas provinces in the Norwegian Continental Shelf, including the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea.Notably, the APA results uphold Var Energi’s position as Norway's one of the leading independent energy companies and commit toward exploring and identifying opportunities on the NCS for further development.Company Profile & Price PerformanceHeadquartered in Rome, Italy, Eni is one of the leading integrated energy players in the world. The company’s stock has gained 38.9% in the past three months.Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to ConsiderEni currently carries a Zack Rank #2 (Buy).Some other top-ranked players in the energy space are TOTAL SE TOT, Enerplus Corporation ERF and Plains Group Holdings LP PAGP, each currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.TOTAL’s earnings for 2021 are expected to increase 116% year over year.Enerplus’s earnings for 2021 are expected to increase 437.5% year over year.Plains Group’s earnings for 2021 are expected to increase 195.2% year over year.More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2021.Click here for the 6 trades >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report TOTAL SE (TOT): Free Stock Analysis Report Eni SpA (E): Free Stock Analysis Report Enerplus Corporation (ERF): Free Stock Analysis Report Plains Group Holdings, L.P. (PAGP): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research