Offshore staff
OSLO, Norway –The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) is scheduled to start acquiring 2D seismic in the southeastern part of the Norwegian Barents Sea as of this April 26.
TheM/V Artemis Atlantic will perform the program, which should take six to eight weeks to complete, acquiring around 6,000 km (3,728 mi) of seismic data. Currently the vessel is steaming to the area with two escort ships.
According to project manager Lars Jensen, “the escort vessels have come along also for safety reasons. The seismic will be acquired far out at sea, and we must have good preparedness in place if something happens to the equipment or crew on the ship.”
Last year NPD acquired 2D seismic in the formerly disputed offshore area near the Russian maritime border.
“We carried out a general mapping then, and now we will take a more detailed approach, and acquire data also at prospect level,” Jensen said.
The program has been commissioned by Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.The country’s parliament will review the results when determining whether to open the region for petroleum activity.
This summer, NPD expects to acquire a total of 30,000 km (18,641 mi) of seismic in the Barents Sea, off Jan Mayen (between Norway and Iceland), and in the Nordland IV and V areas.
4/25/2012
