Norway to Start New Seismic Surveys of Barents Sea this Summer

The NPD said that seismic surveys will start this summer and continue into 2013. This will provide important knowledge regarding possible oil and gas resources in the area, it added.

 

“We have very little knowledge concerning the geology in the northeastern Barents Sea. In order to know more about the resource potential, we need more data,” said Sissel Eriksen, exploration director in the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

 

On Sept. 15, 2010, Norway and Russia signed an agreement relating to maritime demarcation and cooperation in the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean. The agreement entered into force on July 7, 2011.

 

On the Norwegian side, the government has begun a process of awarding production licenses in the southeastern sector of the Barents Sea. The geological mapping started last summer and will continue this summer.

 

Earlier this year, the NPD entered into contracts regarding two vessels that will acquire seismic data both in the southeastern sector of the Barents Sea, in the sea area around Jan Mayen and in Nordland IV and V this summer.

 

“The plans to also map the north-eastern sector of the Barents Sea mean that we need more capacity to acquire seismic. This assignment has been submitted for tender,” added Eriksen.