OSLO, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Norwegian oil companies must ramp up exploration in remote areas like the Arctic Barents Sea to find remaining oil and gas reserves under the country’s oceans, management said on Thursday. oil company.

Norway has pumped oil from its continental shelf for more than 50 years, but only half of the potential resources have been produced so far, and about a quarter of the estimated oil and gas is yet to be found, the agency says. .

Most of Norway‘s production has been concentrated in the North Sea and Norwegian Sea, while only a few fields have so far opened up in the vast northernmost Barents Sea.

“To develop the Barents Sea as an oil province, it is important that companies continue to explore lesser-known areas while drilling near existing fields,” the NPD said in its 2022 resources report.

The NPD estimates that the Barents could contain 2.4 billion cubic meters of undiscovered resources, 57% of which is in the northern part which the authorities have not yet opened up to oil activities and where environmentalists strongly oppose drilling.

Since 2011, more than 80 exploration wells have been drilled in the Barents Sea, but disappointing results have reduced oil companies‘ interest in the region.

Only six companies – including Norway‘s Equinor (EQNR.OL) and Sweden’s Lundin Energy, now part of Aker BP – applied for a new exploration area in the Barents Sea in the 25th licensing round last year, compared to 36 in the 22nd cycle in 2014. .

The lack of gas export infrastructure in the Barents Sea also means that oil companies are mainly looking for oil, not gas.

The European Union’s decision to phase out Russian gas and oil imports following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, however, has increased demand for Norwegian gas, putting its Arctic resources back on the agenda, Wood Mackenzie analysts said.

“We believe Barents Sea gas has a role to play in supply, but further exploration in the region is needed and it is a tough sell,” the consultancy said in a report by the media. August 15th.

The NPD said Arctic gas could be converted to emission-free hydrogen in combination with the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, improving its competitiveness.

Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik and Emelia Sithole-Matarise

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