As Europe's most accessible offshore plays show increasing signs of age, operators are studying prospects for finds in offshore frontier areas along the Atlantic margin from western Ireland to the Barents Sea.
T. Fjaeran and colleagues from Norway's Statoil told delegates at the Offshore Northern Europe conference in Aberdeen last week that new technology is making it possible to explore the region, while momentum for deepwater exploration is expected to grow.
"Only a very small portion of this vast area is licensed for exploration and production activity," said the authors in a paper presented to the conference.
The bulk of reserves found to date there is in the Shtockmanovskoye find in the Barents Sea off northern Russia.
Shtockmanovskoye is thought to have reserves more than twice the size of Norway's supergiant Troll field, which has gas reserves estimated at more than 45 tcf.
"This giant find, along with other gas discoveries, indicates that the potential of the Barents Sea will mainly be gas," said the authors.
"However, the area displays a variety of proven and possible hydrocarbon systems, and oil accumulations may be present in areas isolated from the deeper basins."
The authors said proven oil reserves along the Atlantic margin amount to 1 billion cu m of oil, while proven gas reserves amount to 500 million cu m of oil equivalent.
They reckon a further 1.2 billion cu m of oil could be discovered along the Atlantic margin, along with a further 800 billion cu m oil equivalent of gas.
Barents Sea oil finds to date have combined estimated reserves of 100 million cu m of oil, said the authors, while gas finds in the area, in contrast, amount to almost 4 billion bbl of oil equivalent.
The Barents Sea is expected to hold roughly 900 million cu m of oil and 2.4 billion cu m of gas in anticipated discoveries.
"Total expected volumes to be found in the European frontiers are huge," said the authors. "Even given the uncertainties in the estimations, it can be stated that this potential will constitute the basis for a high level of exploration activity in the years to come. So far, only a very small part of the area has been thoroughly explored."
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