Statoil Concludes Barents Sea Program with Little Results

Norway-based Statoil concluded its Barents Sea program with lower than expected results, despite an ‘all-time high exploration activity.’ 

“It has been argued that the exploration programme has had limited success. Indeed, we have made fewer commercial discoveries than we had hoped for,” Irene Rummelhoff, senior vice president for exploration on the Norwegian continental shelf, commented on Friday. 

However, the company welcomed the efforts as part of a wider program to garner information about the oil and gas potential in the Barents Sea. 

“We have tested a great variety of geological plays in frontier areas and dramatically increased our knowledge with the huge amount of subsurface data we have collected.  We have also demonstrated that we can operate in a safe and efficient manner in the remote parts of the Barents Sea.”

Statoil started with exploration of the area around the Johan Castberg, resulting in the oil discovery in Drivis, and continued its programme with Hoop wells and ended up with multiple focuses: the Finnmark platform, the Bjørnøya basin north of Johan Castberg, and the Nordkapp basin.

“Our focus next year will be to analyse the extensive data we have collected, interpret the 3D data from the joint seismic acquisition in the southeastern Barents Sea and decide on the way forward in the Barents Sea. We will also work hard to deliver a strong application in the 23rd concession round,” concluded Rummelhoff.