Statoil has begun drilling on “The most important exploration well of the year”

Equinor headquartersEquinor headquarters.Photo. Norway Today Media

The drilling of Norway’s northernmost well for Norway is underway, despite attempts by Greenpeace and Nature & Youth groups to halt it.It can be Norway’s largest oil discovery.

 

Statoil started drilling on Monday and has planned to spend 25-30 days at the Korpfjell well which, according to Stavanger Aftenblad, is the first well in a new exploration area on the Norwegian continental shelf, in the Barents Sea southeast.

Greenpeace appealed to the Environmental Directorate’s decision to allow exploration drilling there, but NRK reported that the Ministry of Climate and Environment, at the end of July, rejected the complaint.

Statoil is careful with giving high expectations, but Bente Nyland, director of oil, has said that Korpfjell is the most important well on the Norwegian continental shelf this year.

According to oil analyst Jarand Rystad of Rystad Energy, it is possible that the well may produce up to an estimated 10 billion barrels of oil, which would be the largest oil discovery in Norway, according to Dagens Næringsliv.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today