Board Chairman of North Energy, Johan Petter Barlindhaug, says to NRK TV that his company is ready to start drilling in the formerly disputed, now delineated, waters in the Barents Sea. He hopes the agreement signed in April by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg on the delineation of the Barents Sea will soon be ratified by the two countries’ legislative assemblies and that oil exploration subsequently can start.
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Seismic studies could start in 2011, license announcements be made in 2012 and drilling could start in 2014, Barlindhaug says.
Also state-controlled Statoil is ready to engage in the area. Leader of the company’s High North division Hege Marie Norheim underlines that Norway is in dire need of new prospective areas and confirms that the Norwegian-Russian waters are of major interest.
Both companies also confirm that they are ready to engage in the far north in latitudes up to the 79th degree.
-I believe that the technology we have will enable us to do this, however we must not do any safety short-cuts, Johan Petter Barlindhaug stresses to NRK
Environmentalists meanwhile strongly warn against drilling in the area. Leader of the Bellona Foundation Frederic Hauge says a major spill in the area would spread all over the Barents Sea and that more knowledge is needed before action is taken.
