UPDATE - Norway suspends oil exploration in Barents Sea
Date: 06-Sep-01
Country: NORWAY
"We have recieved complaints from environmental organisations on our emissions permission (to Norsk Agip) and has therefore suspendend the permission until these have been considered," said Joakim Lystad, spokesman at the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT) said this week.
Norsk Agip last year discovered an oil field in the Arctic Barents Sea estimated to hold between 75,000-100,000 million barrels of oil.
The company was currently preparing to drill an appraisal well to determine the size of the field.
A spokeswoman at Norsk Agip said she hoped that the issue would find a quick solution, but said Norsk Agip would have to postpone drilling by one year as weather conditions only allowed drilling at certain times of the year.
"And should this this suspension lead to a ban, then it would mean a loss of about 150 million crowns ($16.89 million) for us," Ida Andersen, spokeswoman at Norsk Agip, said.
The Barents has been seen as a possible rich new area for oil and gas, and state-controlled oil and gas firm Statoil struck oil and gas in the area in February.
SFT said that the suspension of Norsk Agip's appraisal drilling meant that any other planned wells would also be put on hold until the matter had been clarified by the Environment Ministry.
"It could take several months before this matter has been considered," a ministry spokeswoman said, adding: "This is a very complex issue."
