World Petroleum Resources Assessment Fact Sheet

Assessment of Undiscovered Petroleum 

Resources of the Barents Sea Shelf

Introduction

In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an 

assessment of potential undiscovered, technically recoverable 

crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquid resources in the 

Barents Sea Shelf. These resources are assumed to be recoverable regardless of the presence of sea ice or depth of water. As 

with other areas assessed in the USGS Circum-Arctic Oil and 

Gas Resource Appraisal, this area shares important characteristics with many Arctic basins, such as sparse data, high geologic 

uncertainty, substantial petroleum-resource potential, and 

technical barriers that impede exploration and development. The 

Barents Sea Shelf, which lies entirely north of the Arctic Circle, 

contains an area of approximately 1,760,000 square kilometers 

between longs 0o and 80oE. Most of this area offshore northern 

Norway and the Russian Federation lies under less than 500 

meters of water.

Assessment Units

The Barents Sea Shelf contains several sedimentary basins 

separated by structural arches in the eastern part and a broad 

structural platform in the western part. The shelf was divided 

into four geologic provinces based on structural style—East 

Barents Basins Province, Novaya Zemlya Basins and Admiralty 

Arch Province, Barents Platform Province, and Norwegian Margin Province (fig. 1). The provinces were subdivided into eight 

geologically distinctive assessment units (AUs)—the Kolguyev 

Terrace, South Barents Basin and Ludlov Saddle, North Barents 

Basin, Novaya Zemlya Basins and Admiralty Arch, Barents 

Platform North, Barents Platform South, Western Barents 

Margin, and Arctic Norwegian Sea AUs (fig. 1). The Novaya 

Zemlya Basins and Admiralty Arch AU, although defined, was 

not quantitatively assessed because of a less than 10 percent 

probability of the existence of one undiscovered accumulation 

exceeding the defined minimum size of 50 million barrels of oil 

equivalent.

Petroleum System Elements

Analyses of petroleum and rocks from wells indicate 

sources of petroleum in Middle Triassic and Upper Jurassic 

mudstones, with possible contributions from underlying Paleozoic and other Mesozoic rocks. Because of possible mixing of 

petroleum, a single Paleozoic-Mesozoic Composite Total Petroleum System (TPS) was identified for the East Barents Basins, 

Novaya Zemlya Basins and Admiralty Arch, and Barents 

Platform Provinces. Along the west margin of the shelf, source 

rocks include Jurassic, Cretaceous, and possibly Paleogene 

mudstones, so a single Mesozoic-Cenozoic Composite TPS was 

identified for the Norwegian Margin Province. 

Known reservoir rocks include Carboniferous to Permian, 

Triassic, Middle and Upper Jurassic, and Cretaceous and Paleogene sandstones, as well as Upper Permian spiculite. Potential 

reservoirs include upper Paleozoic carbonate rocks.

Known and inferred traps include structural highs with 

closures, fault-related structures, drapes over structures, stratigraphic onlaps and pinchouts along basin margins, carbonateshelf and reef-associated deposits, stratigraphic traps (for 

example, submarine fans and channels), and salt structures. 

Traps formed before and during petroleum generation.

Resource Summary

The USGS assessed undiscovered conventional, technically recoverable petroleum (discovered reserves not included), 

resulting in the estimated mean volumes of a probability 

distribution of approximately 11 billion barrels (1,750 million 

cubic meters, equivalent to 1,500 million metric tons) of crude 

oil, 380 trillion cubic feet (11 trillion cubic meters) of natural 

gas, and 2 billion barrels (320 million cubic meters, equivalent 

to 270 million metric tons) of natural gas liquids (table 1). Most 

undiscovered petroleum is estimated to be in the East Barents 

Basins Province.

Four geologic provinces of the Barents Sea Shelf were assessed for undiscovered crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquid or condensate 

resources as part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Circum-Arctic Oil and Gas Resource Appraisal. Using a geology-based methodology, the mean 

undiscovered, conventional, technically recoverable petroleum resources in the Barents Sea Shelf are estimated to be more than 76 billion 

barrels of oil equivalent, which includes approximately 11 billion barrels of crude oil, 380 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 2 billion barrels of 

natural gas liquids.

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2009–3037

Printed on recycled paper Printed on recycled paper June 2009
References

IHS Energy, 2007, International petroleum exploration and 

production database [current through December 2007]: available from IHS Energy, 15 Inverness Way East, Englewood, 

Colorado 80112 USA.

For Further Information

Assessment results are available at the USGS Central 

Energy Team website, http://energy.usgs.gov/arctic, or contact 

Donald L. Gautier, Task Leader for the USGS Circum-Arctic 

Oil and Gas Resource Appraisal (gautier@usgs.gov).

Barents Sea Shelf Province Assessment Team: T.R. 

Klett and Donald L. Gautier (assessing geologists), Kenneth J. 

Bird, Ronald R. Charpentier, David W. Houseknecht, Thomas 

E. Moore, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk, Marilyn E. 

Tennyson, and Craig J. Wandrey.

Acknowledgments

Information and data for the Barents Platform Province 

and Norwegian Margin were provided by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. Geographic information system analysis was 

performed by Feliks Persits.

Figure 1. Location of geologic provinces and assessment units on the Barents sea shelf.

Assessment Units

Assessed Arctic Provinces

EXPLANATION

Gas

Oil

Not Reported

Oil and Gas Fields (IHS Energy, 2007)

BARENTS SHELF PROVINCES - 1050, 1062, 4012, 4017

Water Depth (m)

–1000

–500

–100

Clarke 1866 Stereographic North Pole

Stereographic North Pole

False Easting: 0.000000

False Northing: 0.000000

Central Meridian: 30.000000

Standard Parallel: 1:75000000

70°N

65°N

75°N

0° 10°E 20°E 30°E 40°E 50°E 60°E

Arctic Circle

North Barents Basin

10500103

Novaya Zemlya

Basins and

Admiralty Arch

Province 1062

South Barents Basin and

Ludlov Saddle 10500102

East Barents

Basins

Province 1050

Kolguyev Terrace

10500101

Barents Platform

North 40120101

Barents

Platform

Province 4012

Barents Platform

South 40120102

Norwegian

Margin

Province 4017

Western Barents

Margin 40170201

Arctic Norwegian

Sea 40170104

0 200 KILOMETERS
Table 1. Assessment results of the East Barents Basins, Novaya Zemlya Basins and Admiralty Arch, and Barents Platform Provinces, and

Western Barents Margin (conventional undiscovered resources). 

[MMB, million barrels; BCF, billion cubic feet. Results shown are fully risked estimates. For gas fields, all liquids are included under the natural gas liquids (NGL) category. F95 denotes a

95-percent chance of at least the amount tabulated. Other fractiles are defined similarly. Fractiles are additive under the assumption of perfect positive correlation. TPS, total petroleum

system; AU, assessment unit. Gray shading indicates not applicable. Numbers do not exactly add to the totals because totals were calculated by statistical aggregation]

Total Undiscovered Resources Total Petroleum Systems

and

Assessment Units

Field

Type Oil (MMB) Gas (BCF) NGL (MMB)

F95 F50 F5 Mean F95 F50 F5 Mean F95 F50 F5 Mean

AU

Probability

Paleozoic-Mesozoic Composite TPS (105001)

Gas

Oil Kolguyev Terrace AU

(10500101)

Gas

South Barents Basin and Oil

Ludlov Saddle AU

(10500102)

Gas

North Barents Basin AU Oil

(10500103)

EAST BARENTS BASINS PROVINCE (1050)

0 110 398 145

241 1,300 5,901 1,939

0 155 973 275

312 2,175 11,900 3,669

0

3

2

27

14

163

4

50

973 2,039 4,605 2,313 22 54 129 62

142,293 472,507 126 460 2,080 714

5,322 10,145 137

117,467 456

Total undiscovered petroleum

resources, Province 1050 7,453 321,323 1,453

1.000

1.000

Novaya Zemlya Basins and

Admiralty Arch AU (10620101)

NOVAYA ZEMLYA BASINS AND ADMIRALTY ARCH PROVINCE (1062)

0.090

Paleozoic-Mesozoic Composite TPS (106201)

44,854 183,689

0.504

0 1,197 21,424 0 1,748 41,460 0 20 557

0 36,814 450,041 0 98 1,808

Not quantitatively assessed

Paleozoic-Mesozoic Composite TPS (401201)

Gas

Oil Barents Platform North AU

(40120101)

Gas

Oil Barents Platform South AU

(40120102)

Gas

Oil

Western Barents Margin AU

(40170201)

BARENTS PLATFORM PROVINCE (4012)

0 0 1,669 369

649 1,519 3,308 1,687

0 0 5,031 1,067

1,635 4,345 10,120 4,905

0

34

0

95

113

230

24

108

0 0 20,709 5,005 0 0 159 36

13,789 29,431 37 98 227 110

1,227 6,409 173

20,646 252

Total undiscovered petroleum

resources, Province 4012 2,033 26,064 277

0.360

1.000

6,246 15,241

1.000

290 1,000 2,971 1,360 5,089 15,964 34 136 442

8,523 18,901 39,094 96 226 497

Mesozoic Composite TPS (401701)

NORWEGIAN MARGIN PROVINCE (4017)

Total undiscovered petroleum

resources, Province 4017 1,444 32,399 507

Total undiscovered petroleum

resources, Barents Sea Shelf 10,930 379786 2,237

Gas

Oil

Arctic Norwegian Sea AU

(40170104)

210 1,095 30

4,131 50

0.490

0 0 970 0 0 5,241 0 0 143

0 0 15,908 0 0 200

Mesozoic-Cenozoic Composite TPS (401702)

389 4,543 24,119 56,952 259,635 796,922 211 1,016 4,153

630 1,765 4,486 7,980 22,043 58,576 77 234 628

311 1,128 3,654 10,875 27,672 69,981 147 419 1,155

Table 1. Assessment results of the East Barents Basins, Novaya Zemlya Basins and Admirality Arch, Barents Platform Provinces, and Western 

Barents Margin (conventional undiscovered resources).