Norwegian oil company DNO announced on Monday that it had discovered natural gas in the Norwegian North Sea, potentially the country’s largest discovery in a decade.
Norway continues oil exploration despite climate emergency
The gas and condensate deposit found at the so-called Carmen prospect is estimated to contain between 120 and 230 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBoe), DNO said in a press release. If the mid-point of this range (175 Mboe) were to be reached, it would make this the biggest discovery on the Norwegian continental shelf since 2013, he said.
“Norway is a perpetual gift,” commented Group CEO Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani.
Despite the climate emergency, Norway, which last year became Europe’s biggest gas supplier in the wake of the war in Ukraine, is struggling to break its dependence on the hydrocarbons that made its fortune. Last month, much to the chagrin of environmentalists, Oslo gave the go-ahead to 19 oil and gas projects (development or extension of fields, investments to increase hydrocarbon recovery rates…) with a total value in excess of 17 billion euros.
As the North Sea has already been extensively exploited, major discoveries have become rarer in recent years. Carmen remains limited in size compared with other Norwegian fields such as the behemoths Statfjord, Ekofisk, Johan Sverdrup and Troll, some of which have reserves in excess of 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent. However, its proximity to other deposits already discovered or brought on stream should facilitate its development. In addition to DNO, which holds a 30% stake, the project partners are Norway’s Wellesley Petroleum (50%), Equinor and Aker BP (10% each).
