Tag: Barents Sea

A Russian trawler sank in the Barents Sea in icing conditions and 17 crewmembers are now missing. Russian media suspect that the cause of the sinking is heavy ice buildup.

The Norwegian oil company, Equinor, after several exploration efforts and many depressing wells in the frontier areas of Barents Sea, announced that from now on will pay attention to some of the Norway's promising offshore productive areas, as it further goals to build a new oil province in its Arctic region.

The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy announced this year's licensing round on the Norwegian continental shelf. In the new licensing round, the predefined area has been expanded by a total of 90 blocks; namely five in the North Sea, 37 in the Norwegian Sea and 48 in the Barents Sea.

Norway proposed to add 90 new blocks across the Norwegian Continental Shelf in mature areas, 48 of these being in the Barents Sea. The proposed areas concerning the extension, include areas that are close to planned and existing infrastructure, and which are well known after several years of exploration activity.

Eastern Pacific aframax tanker Barents Sea, that was seized by private military with k-47 machine guns in Cameroon on February 2, has been released. The 26 crew on board are reported safe and unharmed. According to the company, the vessel was unlawfully seized by the private militia armed with AK-47s last week at the Sonara Refinery in Limbe. The ship has now completed cargo discharge and departed the port of Limbe. 

A Norwegian politician called for marine mammal observer onboard seismic vessels, ahead of the agreement between Russia and Norway regarding mutual rights to seismic acquisition in the Barents Sea. Namely, Green Party's Arne Liaklev said that acoustic surveys for oil deposits below the seabed should be avoided if there are whales nearby. 

The new agreement will include a right for seismic vessels from both countries to cross the delimitation line and use their seismic equipment within a distance of 5 kilometers on the continental shelf of the other country. According to the Delimitaion Agreement of 2010, such discoveries shall be subject to unitization.

The Norwegian government issued a proposal to increase funding to geological surveying with NOK 50 million, to boost knowledge through mapping of the petroleum resources in the Northern parts of the Barents Sea. The acquired seismic data will provide important information about the geology of the Barents Sea.

Norway's PSA has given the Norwegian oil firm DEA Norge consent for exploration drilling in block 7321/4 in the Barents Sea. Earlier in July, PSA granted oil major Equinor consent for exploration drilling in block 7132/2, as well as 7220/5-3 in production licence 532 in the Barents Sea.

PSA Norway granted Equinor consent for exploration drilling of a well in the Barents Sea. The well will be drilled in order to investigate a prospect called "Intrepid Eagle" which is around 172 kilometres south-east of Bjørnøya. Drilling on the field is planned to start in mid-August 2018, and will probably last 28 days, depending on whether a discovery is made.