Oil giants including Shell and Total are interest in potential new Arctic oil and gas resources, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD).
Operators which also include Chevron, Tullow Oil and Lundin Petroleum have bought seismic data the agency has gathered around Jan Mayen island over the past two years.
The NPD mapped out the seabed around the island, east of Greenland and north of Iceland, and has estimated it holds 566million barrels of oil equivalent in reserves.
The Arctic reportedly may hold 13% of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30% of its gas.