- A new era for petroleum activity is opening up in the northernmost parts of our country, says Minister of Petroleum and Energy Ola Borten Moe and points at three factors pulling in that direction: the management plan, the delineation agreement with Russian and the petroleum report, that will be presented today.
The petroleum report underlines that activity outside the coast also must create activity on land. Companies planning development of oil and gas fields must therefore also make social considerations and operators must present an analysis of regional and local spin-off effects of their activity.
The Norwegian authorities plan to contribute to the new initiative for Northern Norway by focusing more on the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s office in Harstad in Troms County. The office now has 12 employees but more positions will be created as the activities in the Barents Sea gain speed. The office is involved in the seismic surveys by Jan Mayen and plays an important role in the planning of surveys of the recently delineated Barents Sea, Fremover reports.
In addition to this, the government plans to open a research center on the particular challenges the oil and gas industry is facing in the Arctic, Borten Moe says to NRK. The center will be located in Northern Norway.
