Norwegian Sea oil reserves off mid-Norway assured that plans for field development there, on Haltenbanken, have taken shape much faster than projects off the far northern reaches of the country.
North of Haltenbanken, on Tromsoflaket, discoveries on the western edge of the Barents Sea are mostly gas.
The main development prospect on Tromsoflaket is Snohvit gas field with reserves of 3.53 tcf. It lies in Blocks 7120/5 and 7120/6 and 7121/4 and 7121/5.
Norway's Den norske stats oljeselskap AS, working in partnership with Norsk Hydro and Total Marine Norsk, has promoted Snohvit as a supply source for a liquefied natural gas plant and has been discussing an export contract with ENEL, Italy's state electrical power company.
A Jan. 1, 1992, deadline to agree on prices and volumes was extended to Apr. 1. No agreement has yet been reached, and this time around the deadline may not be extended.
Tromsoflaket exploration, which began in 1980, has yielded 8.8 tcf of gas. However, remote location, deep water, and difficult operating conditions have added to difficulties in marketing.
In the search for Haltenbanken-style oil, companies have taken the exploration campaign east into the main area of the Barents Sea but without significant success.
Early hopes of finding large volumes of oil in giant structures revealed by seismic surveys have been dashed, and operators are now looking at different plays.
The area continues to be largely disappointing to explorationists.
At the end of last year Conoco Norway drilled a new play in the southeast part of the Barents Sea with a Permian carbonate objective. Its 7128/8-1 wildcat went to 8,265 ft but found only small volumes of oil in the target zone.
Copyright 1992 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
