Since 1990, it says, "total resources, including the estimate for undiscovered resources, have increased by more than 40%. In fact, more resources than we expected overall in 1990 have been proven, and there is still a lot left to find. In order to extract all the values, the industry must co-operate on utilising the infrastructure that exists and use the available technology," said upstream regulator NPD's development and operations director Ingrid Solvberg.

At the turn of the year, there were 77 discoveries on the Norwegian shelf that are being considered for development. Most are in the North Sea, and the largest are in the Barents Sea. The resources in these discoveries amount to 700mn m³ of oil equivalent (oe).  

Resources of oil and gas

Source: NPD

A further 850mn m³ oe can be produced through improved recovery measures, or as much as the total production from the Statfjord field since its start-up in 1979. This presumes that the companies will make investment decisions for projects that have already been identified.

Advanced methods for enhanced oil recovery could extract 320 – 860mn m³ of oil could be recovered. And there are vast volumes of oil and gas in tight reservoirs that could be recovered using new technology.

“The authorities expect that all resources that contribute to values for society will be produced, not just the ‘easy barrels’. This requires us to maintain strong expert communities and develop and apply new technology,” says Solvberg (pictured below).

Photo credit: NPD

Uncertainty range

The amount of oil and gas which can be recovered from the NCS depends on a number of considerations. Geology, reservoir conditions, development of technology and knowledge, costs and raw material prices are important factors affecting recovery. The resource accounts build on current knowledge and technology.

The uncertainty range in the accounts shows that 44-60% of the resources remain to be produced

William Powell