OSLO, May 10 (Reuters) - Norway offered 92 new blocks to explore for oil and gas in the Norwegian and the Barents Sea on Wednesday in so-called APA round, xxx hotties the country's oil and energy ministry said.

"We need to find more gas in the Barents Sea to put in place new infrastructure. Further exploration is important to ensure that Norway remains a secure and predictable supplier of oil and gas to Europe," Minister of Energy and Petroleum Terje Aasland said in a statement.

(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Alison Williams)