VOLD, JOHAN NIC, Statoil

Abstract: Deep Water Challenges in Norway

The Norwegian Continental Shelf is a major production area for both oil and gas. Norway is the second largest exporter of crude oil in the world and an important supplier of natural gas to the European market.

The major part of the production is based on a few giant fields discovered in the 70's or early 80's.These fields have reached their plateau production and are now in decline. Later exploration efforts have yielded several, but smaller discoveries.

During the 1990's the explorationists' world map has changed substantially. New acreages, previously not accessible to the international oil industry in OPEC countries and within the Former Soviet Union and elsewhere, are now open for competition. A significant part of the new and larger map has been made possible through an amazing improvement in offshore technologies. So also for the deep waters of the North Sea.

Weak oil prices have made it necessary for the oil companies to scale back exploration funds, prioritize their operations and find more cost efficient development concepts.

On this background, the Norwegian Continental Shelf now entering into a more mature stage is facing a competitive challenge.

The paper will discuss how the Norwegian authorities, the companies and the contracting industry can meet this challenge along two dimensions:

1) Increased efficiency and utilization of the existing infrastructure,

2) Exploration efforts in vast unexplored acreage in deep and ultra deep waters with a new generation of technical solutions emerging out of the NORSOK process and projects such as the Åsgaard development.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90923@1999 International Conference and Exhibition, Birmingham, England