f Oil and Gas Development in Norway’s Northern Areas

A013 Oil and Gas Development in Norway’s Northern Areas O. Birkeland* (Statoil ASA) SUMMARY The Northern areas include the areas west of the Lofoten Islands in the Norwegian Sea and to the northern shelf edge of the Barents Sea. Exploration was initiated in 1980 with the drilling of the first well. Close to 70 exploration wells have since been drilled in the south-western Barents Sea. Until the decision to develop the Snøhvit gas fields through an LNG plant on the Finnmark coast was made no commercial solutions were seen for the discoveries in the area. Snøhvit will come on stream