Languages

“Northern Norway – the next oil province”

The Norwegian and Barents Sea is the future for the Norwegian oil industry, a new report argues.

Norwegian Arctic waters will be more important than the North Sea after 2030, a new report suggests. One of eight projected new field centers is located near the border to Russia.

Location

A new report written by the Rystad Energy, a consulting company, envisions the development of eight field centers in Norwegian Arctic waters by year 2030. One of the centers will be located in the southeastern part of Norway`s Barents Sea, near the marine border to Russia, a press release reads.

The report titled “North Norwegian Oil and Gas Activity Level” suggests that up to €25 billion will be invested in the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea by year 2030 and that the area by 2040 will be Norway`s biggest oil producing region. The analysis, which is commissioned by the organizations PetroArctic, ProBarents, Knowledge Park North and Innovation Norway, estimates the resource potential of the waters off northern Norway to 27 billion barrels of oil equivalents.

“Most oil experts agree that Northern Norway ultimately will be the biggest oil region, and the companies have already started to position themselves for such a development”, says Kjell Giæver, head of the PetroArctic suppliers network.

The report does not touch on possible relations with neighboring Russia. As a matter of fact, according to the report authors, Russia is not really important for the development of the Norwegian waters and does not affect the report scenarios. “However, in general, good relations with the Russians is an advantage”, Jarand Rystad, head of the Rystad Energy, says to BarentsObserver. Rystad  also does not believe in any significant role of Russian companies like Rosneft and Lukoil in the area.

He is also convinced that oil companies will not be afraid to start operations in the areas close to the borderline. “They can learn from the examples in the North Sea between Norway and Great Britain”, he suggests.