The Government has decided that the NPD will map the geology in the northeastern part of Norway’s new sea area in the Barents Sea.
According to the plan, the seismic surveys will start this summer and continue into 2013. This will provide important knowledge regarding possible oil and gas resources in this area.
“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,” says Sissel Eriksen, exploration director in the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.
On 15 September 2010, Norway and Russia signed the agreement relating to maritime demarcation and cooperation in the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean. The agreement entered into force on 7 July 2011.
On the Norwegian side, the Government has started an opening process with the aim of awarding production licences in the southeastern sector of the Barents Sea. The geological mapping started last summer and will continue until 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 northeastern sector of the Barents Sea mean that we need more capacity to acquire seismic. This assignment has been submitted for tender,” says Eriksen .
[mappress] Subsea World News Staff , February 22, 2012; Image: SeaBird