A new oil discovery in the Barents Sea holds at least 150 million barrels of oil equivalent, European energy companies announced. The breakthrough discovery is one of the most important finds on the Norwegian continental shelf in the last decade.
The companies during drilling operations with the Polar Pioneer rig in 1,223 feet of water encountered a gas column of 108 feet and an oil column of nearly 300 feet. The Skrugard field is the third major hydrocarbon finding in the Barents Sea. The Skrugard field could be put in production as soon as in 2018. The field is considered a major breakthrough for the Norwegian oil industry in the Barents Sea. The field is believed to have resources of up to 250 million tons of extractable oil equivalents. The oil is anticipated to be easily producible. With adjacent resources, the Skrugard reserves could exceed 500 million tons of oil equivalents. The discovery is vital in order to maintain the technology and technical environments in the oil and gas industry in the future. This is a break-through, and an important step in understanding how the geology – and thus the hydrocarbon systems in the Barents Sea – works.