Norway issues new drilling permits for North and Barents Seas
Norwegian energy company Statoil was granted a drilling permit for a well in the Snøhvit field in its northern territorial waters. "This is the first well to be drilled in the license area," the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate stated. The Norwegian government confirmed a sizable discovery of oil and natural gas at the Snøhvit field in the Barents Sea three years ago at 525 billion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas and more than 130 million barrels of recoverable oil reserves. According to government estimates, there are roughly 18 billion barrels of oil equivalent yet to be discovered in Norwegian waters. Half of that is in the Barents Sea. Elsewhere, the NPD issued a drilling permit for the newly-minted joint venture Aker BP for a license area in the central waters of the North Sea that border British territorial waters. Drilling will be in an area just southwest of the Volund field, which the government estimates has 26.4 million barrels of oil remaining. (International Business Times)
BACK