The Norwegian professor of geology Olaf Holtedahl in 1921 visited the far northern Russian archipelago of Novaya Zemlya and collected more than 4000 stone samples. The mission was to find new types of stones. Today, the stone collection could help provide some of the answers about the geology – and the hydrocarbon resources – in the eastern part of the Barents Sea, newspaper Dagens Næringsliv reports. The Norwegian Geological Museum in Oslo has Holtedahl’s collection well kept in its archives. Both the U.S. oil company Exxon and Russian authorities have tried to buy the stones, but the museum has rejected all requests. Some of the stones are up to 160 million years old and could tell us about the amounts of oil in this part of the Barents Sea, Assistant Professor and museum representative Hans Arne Nakrem told the newspaper. The shale samples could provide more information than seismic tests in the area, the expert maintains. The Novaya Zemly is today a strictly closed military zone. The many nuclear detonations made by the Soviet Union in the area after 1954 has contaminated big parts of the archipelago. Although turning down all offers from bidders, the museum has still engaged in a cooperation with oil companies. Since 2006, the Lundin Oil and Chevron have supported a series of international studies of the stones. Chevron Norway representative Petter Nordby confirmed to DN that his company supports the museum in order to get the best possible geological picture of the area with existing data. He at the same time, stresses that also seismic studies and exploration wells are needed in order to determine the size of findings of oil and gas.
