Page 39: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Nov/Dec 2019)

38 40

REGIONAL REPORT The Arctic the North

By Kåre Storvik

Sea uses In the report she expects that 8.3 billion standard cubic

While others are known as rulers of the seas, Norway meters (sm3) of hydrocarbons remain to be produced on has been more known as users, locally and worldwide. No the Norwegian shelf. And that 5.4 billion of this will be wonder, since Norwegian waters are covering an area of produced in the Barents Sea in the North. One third of the close to six times the size of the Norwegian land areas. total recoverable resources on the entire Norwegian shelf,

There is considerable potential for growth in many sec- which is estimated at 15.6 billion sm3.

tors of the ocean economy, including the seafood industry, Harvesting of resources at sea, hunting and ? sheries, as marine biotechnology, seabed mining, maritime transport well as other sea traf? c in this area have traditions that are and trade, coastal and maritime tourism, maritime surveil- hundreds of years long and frighten few in Norway.

lance and of course energy (including both renewable and In spite of the high north latitude, the Gulf Stream en- non-renewable). Together these sectors make up the ocean sures that the Barents Sea has little or no sea ice and less or ‘blue’ economy. harsh climate than other similarly located Arctic regions

Notably, most of the Norwegian waters are in the North. in the North, of crucial importance to those operating

The Arctic is Norway’s most important foreign policy pri- in the region.

ority. Arctic policy will be considered in the context of Equinor has successfully developed and operated the ocean policy. Snøhvit gas ? eld and the Hammerfest lique? ed natural

Sea uses have been the dominating source of income gas (LNG) plant since 2007. And the Vår Energi Goliat for Norwegians in the North. Joining ? shing and sea- oil? eld has likewise been producing for nearly four years. food production – and more recently ? sh farming – oil Equinor is now developing the Johan Castberg oil ? eld. and gas production from Norway’s northern waters is of In the next few years OMV is expected to decide on the growing importance. development of its Wisting oil ? eld and Lundin on the

Norway’s maritime knowledge, acquired through hun- Alta/Gohta oil ? eld. Business is ? ourishing and conducted dreds of years as a seafaring nation, and the offshore oil by the same mix of local, national and international com- and gas activities, have powered Norway’s position as a panies as elsewhere in the world where oil and gas is pro- world leader within offshore technologies. These tech- duced. There are opportunities for everybody.

nologies, of paramount value Hammerfest is the energy for Norway’s future in ocean town of the North. Here the utilization, may even be more NorSeaGroup operates the Po- valuable than the remaining oil larbase supply base while ASCO and gas resources. operates the ASCO base. Ham- merfest hosts a complete cluster

Oil and gas of service providers to the off-

Just before the Norwegian shore oil and gas industry with

Petroleum Directorate director competing bidders within all

Bente Nyland is handing over her disciplines and all kinds of ser- of? ce to her successor Ingrid Solv- vices. Hammerfest is therefore berg, she is presenting the report dominating as far as technical “The Future is in the North”. services to the oil industry in the

Source: Aker BP nOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 OFFSHORE ENGINEER 39