Around 75 per cent of those being offered relate to unconventional shale oil or gas, the blocks will be incorporated into 93 onshore licences.
Among the companies offered new licenses are UK shale development firms Cuadrilla, IGas and Ineos Shale.
OGA chief executive Andy Samuel said: “I am pleased that the 14th Onshore Round attracted strong interest and a high quality of proposed work programmes. This round enables a significant amount of the UK’s shale prospects to be taken forward to be explored and tested.
“Upon acceptance of these offers, applicants will be issued with licences and will be able to begin planning their future strategies for exploration activities. These will be subject to further local planning, safety, environmental and other authorisations.”
A petroleum exploration and development licence does not give any direct permission for operations to begin and, before a licensee can begin operations, it must be granted a number of further permissions such as planning consent and environmental permits.
The UK has a long history of onshore gas exploration and has developed a “robust regulatory system” to ensure that any such operations will be carried out to the highest standards of safety and environmental protection, the government assured.
However, the government reiterated the “vital role” gas will play in the UK’s transition to a low-carbon future.
Energy minister Andrea Leadsom said: “Now is the time to press ahead and get exploration underway so that we can determine how much shale gas there is and how much we can use.”
Cuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan said the award of these licences gives the company a “leading position” in each of the three most prospective shale gas exploration areas in Northern England – Lancashire Bowland, Gainsborough in South Yorkshire and Cleveland in East Yorkshire.
“The massive potential for the natural gas to be extracted in these areas could help to drive the Northern Powerhouse by securing the low carbon energy future of the UK as well as creating investment and local jobs across the region,” he added.
The firm said that for the next year activity in these new exploration licence areas will largely centre on desktop studies, giving it a detailed understanding of the geology deep underneath the licence areas to help it assess where exploration sites could be located.