Norway Oil Industry Seen At Risk If New Areas Not Opened

Norway’s oil and gas production and industry risk going into serious decline by the mid-2020s if a ban on exploration in unexplored offshore areas in the North isn’t lifted quickly, oil chiefs say.

Combined oil and gas production from Norway, the second-biggest gas exporter to Europe after Russia, and the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter, is at a peak that operators hope to sustain until at least 2015, while stemming the decline beyond that.

To achieve that, industry leaders say areas currently off-limits – Nordland VI, VII and Troms II – will need to be opened up. But there’s strong opposition to drilling in the region off northwest Norway, which has important fishing grounds as well as a natural beauty that attracts many tourists.

A Norwegian parliamentary vote on the integrated management plan for the area decreed it closed to oil companies for the lifetime of the current parliamentary session. But that ends in September, when there’s a general election, so the issue will come up for review in spring 2010. It’s expected to be a divisive topic during the election run-up.

Rigzone