Oil Drought Pushing Norway to Search for Oil in the Arctic
04.09.2009 - Logistics, Human Dimension, Arctic
A new report released by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate shows a faster decline than initially expected in Norway's oil production, as the 123 million tons of oil equivalents from 2008 is expected to decline to 111 million in 2009.
The proposal suggests that major hydrocarbon reserves can be made on Norway's continental shelf, and that these discoveries can be made in areas so far little explored by the oil and gas industry - essentially Norway's Arctic territory.
Among potential places for new sources, the report listed the northern part of the Barents Sea, the waters around Spitsbergen and Jan Mayen Island. However the oil companies do not yet all have the green light to drill in these waters: While the southern parts of the Barents Sea are open for exploration, and the waters around Jan Mayen Island are in the process of being opened up, the northern part of the Barents Sea, remains off-limits.
Meanwhile, Norwegian natural gas production has been increasing steadily, with an expected output to climb 25% over the next four years. The country produced 141.3 billion m3 of gas in 2008, of which 99.2 billion tons was exported.
