Barents Sea exploration well a bust - March 26, 2006

Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industryMarch 2006

Vol. 11, No. 13

Week of March 26, 2006

Barents Sea exploration well a bust

A closely watched oil exploration well project in the Barents Sea was a disappointment, with no recoverable petroleum, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said March 22.

The Arctic offshore well was drilled by the state-controlled Norwegian oil company Statoil ASA about 75 miles off Norway’s northern tip.

Norway is looking to the Barents Sea for oil and natural gas to maintain flow levels that make the Nordic nation the world’s third-largest oil exporter, after Saudi Arabia and Russia.

The exploration well was drilled by the offshore rig Eirik Raude in 775 feet of water. The directorate said traces of hydrocarbons were found, but not in a reservoir of oil or natural gas.

Statoil has a 70 percent interest in the field, with the other key Norwegian oil company, Norsk Hydro ASA, having the other 30 percent.

—The Associated Press

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