Our Arctic Neighbors: Eni postpones Norwegian Goliat project

Eni Norge has decided to postpone the development of the Goliat oil and gas field in the Barents Sea by one year, BarentsObserver.com reported Nov. 17. The project needs the additional time to be approved by the Norwegian parliament. Government approval will probably not be given until early spring 2009, which means that Eni will aim to bring Goliat into production in 2013 rather than 2012.

Also in November Eni Norge announced that all production phases at Goliat, which is off the coast of the county of Finnmark in northern Norway, will take place at sea. The oil will be processed, stored and loaded onto a floating facility on the open sea. Transporting the oil to Hammerfest for processing would have added up to 1.5 billion euros ($1.9 billion) to the cost of the project, although local authorities have been pushing for this option because it would create more jobs. Eni has said that all base activities will be located in Hammerfest and up to 200 jobs will be created there.

“We must make sure that there are more benefits for Finnmark than only a view to numerous platform lights out in the ocean,” said Runar Sjastad, the chairman of Finnmark County Council. Sjastad told a Norwegian newspaper that new discoveries in the area around Goliat could make onshore activities economic, and that Eni should wait until there is more knowledge about the size of the field.

—Sarah Hurst