The announcement, which was made today by Minister of Petroleum and Energy Terje Riis-Johansen, means a strong increase in exploration and drilling in the country’s northern waters. The 21st license round includes 51 new blocks in the Barents Sea and 43 new blocks in the Norwegian Sea. It will form the basis for production licenses issued in spring 2011.
-The petroleum industry has created major values for the Norwegian society, and I am sure that the 21st license round will contribute to bring on this value generation, Minister Riis-Johansen says in a press release. He adds that he hopes the license round will generate more jobs in the northern parts of the country.
The announcement of the new license round comes amid heated debate on the purposefulness of offshore drilling. The spills in the Gulf of Mexico has made a big impression on the Norwegian public, and government junior partner Socialist Left Party believes all Arctic drilling now must be halted.
The situation in the Mexico Gulf has made the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy introduce a moratorium on deep-water drilling, but it seems no less eager to proceed with oil and gas exploration in the High North.
Read also: Norway stalls all deep-water drilling
The Barents Sea is seen by the Norwegian oil industry as a possible new treasure chamber, which will enable it to uphold oil and gas production on the Norwegian shelf. Norway’s oil production is currently dropping rapidly, and also the gas production could in few years time have reached its peak.
The oil industry is ready to take on the Barents Sea. Since 2008, there has been no drilling in the area. In that year, eight wells were drilled, of which six contained hydrocarbons, Offshore.no reports. Both Statoil, Eni and GDF Suez now prepare for drilling, and also smaller companies like Lundin, OMV, Det norske and Dong are in the process of making decisions, the website informs.
Talking with Offshore.no, Sissel Eriksen from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate confirms that there also is a major interest in the formerly disputed, now delineated, areas between Norway and Russia, but that the case still is on the political level and that a moratorium on drilling in the area still applies.
However, when an agreement on the area is approved and ratified by both countries, the first step will be to do seismic studies and possibly do some shallow drilling in strategically important areas, she says.
