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Our Arctic Neighbors Barents Sea to be surveyed ahead of licensing
New production licenses for exploration activities in mature areas of the Norwegian continental shelf will be awarded late this year or early in 2009, with the deadline for applications Oct. 3, Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy announced in May. The Awards in Predefined Areas 2008 include four additional blocks in the Barents Sea that were not included in APA 2007.
The APA arrangement is considered important to attract new and smaller companies to the Norwegian continental shelf, according to the Norwegian government. The purpose of the APA rounds is to enhance exploration activities in mature areas, where resources can be discovered and developed before existing infrastructure is shut down.
Multi-client electromagnetic survey planned
At the same time, Trondheim-based company Electromagnetic Geoservices announced that it has received industry pre-funding to begin an extensive multi-client electromagnetic or EM scanning survey in the Barents Sea. The survey will cover more than 3,000 square kilometers (1,158 square miles).
Unlike traditional techniques, which rely on seismic surveys to indicate potential reservoir structures, EM scanning technology searches for electrical properties (resistivity) that can indicate the location of hydrocarbons directly. Scanning with EM techniques offers the additional benefit of revealing potential leads such as stratigraphic traps, which are not easily visible on seismic maps.
Also in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea, StatoilHydro has drilled two dry appraisal wells in the Tornerose discovery about 68 miles northwest of Hammerfest. The wells were drilled to a vertical depth of 8,802 feet and 8,540 feet under the sea, and concluded in Triassic rocks. The sea depth was 1,354 feet. The wells were drilled by the semisubmersible drilling facility Polar Pioneer.
—Sarah Hurst
Floating nuclear plant plan up in air Gazprom isn’t ready to make a commitment on whether or not it will use floating nuclear power plants in the Shtokman project, the company has said in a letter to environmental groups. “Gazprom specialist and departmental engineering institutes have studied several options for construction of sea-based platforms and ways to power them, but floating nuclear power plants in the conditions of drifting ice floes and high waves during storms at sea have not been discussed,” wrote Alexander Ishkov, the head of Gazprom’s energy efficiency and environmental department.
“The decision about the application of floating nuclear power plants for extraction, transport and refinement of gas will be taken only after all sides have analyzed the question,” Ishkov added.
—Sarah Hurst
Russian-Vietnamese bid wins in Nenets State-owned Russian oil company Zarubezhneft has won the licenses to 13 oil fields in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, in a joint bid with Vietnamese company PetroVietnam. The successful bid defeated one from Russian oil major Rosneft, the newspaper Vedomosti reported in May. The 13 fields have estimated reserves of 78 million tons of oil (569 million barrels).
—Sarah Hurst
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