The Norwegian Sea: The Development of a New Offshore Region
Authors: Totland T. , Pettersen O.A. , Grini P.G. , Utengen S.F. 
Published: October 2008

The Norwegian Sea is a relatively immature petroleum region with the first field coming on stream in 1993. Over the past 14 years, eight fields and more than 200 wells have been put on stream. More than 32 billion USD have been invested in the area. Over the next decade, a large number of new fields are likely to come on stream with significant investments. The key enablers for this growth have been business driven technology development combined with a willingness among licensees to accept technical and commercial risk. Today, the Norwegian Sea stands out as a show room for use of innovative new technology that will add value also to offshore projects and operations in other regions of the world.

A brief introduction to the Norwegian ContinentalShelf (NCS)

Norway during recent years has been rated as the third largest exporter of oil and gas in the world. Oil production in 2005 was approximately 2.8 million barrels per day in addition to net gas production of approximately 3 tcf a year. Exploration drilling started in 1966. In the period up to 2005 approximately 1100 exploration wells have been drilled, proving 60 billion barrels o.e. of recoverable resources. The estimated undiscovered recoverable resources are estimated to 21 billion barrels o.e. This corresponds to the accumulated production volum to date. In 2005 the petroleum sector's share of Norway's GDP equals 25%, its share of total export from Norway was 52% and contributing to 24% of total investments [1]. This is a remarkable development with the short history from the first discovery of the Cod field in 1969. The Norwegian continental shelf consists of three main petroleum provinces; the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea.

Total petroleum production

So far, the Norwegian petroleum's history has to a large extent been a story about exploration, development and production from the North Sea province. Ekofisk, Statfjord, Gullfaks and Troll have been the main fields in this development.

The Norwegian Sea - significant growth achieved and significant remaining prospectivity

During the last 15 years, the importance of the Norwegian Sea has increased significantly. As of end 2006, eight fields were on stream in the area. Accumulated production from 1993 to end 2005 amounted to 2.8 billion barrels o.e. A general trend during these years has been a gradual change from oil to more gas production. The remaining proved reserves amounts to 6.8 billion barrels o.e. while the contingent reserves equals 3.3 billion barrels o.e. On top of this, the estimated undiscovered resources in the Norwegian Sea equal 7.7 billion barrels o.e. of which 2/3 are expected to be gas.

The Norwegian Sea today is regarded as fairly mature in the Haltenbanken area, surrounded by a large frontier area including deep water areas with significant resource potential. Production from the Haltenbanken region started 14 years ago with the Draugen field operated by Shell. However, focus has been on the petroleum potential since mid 1960s when Norwegian oil became a reality in the North Sea.