Statoil’s summer drilling campaign failed to return any promising prospects.
Norway’s biggest energy company posted disappointing results after completing the country’s northernmost exploration campaign, in the Hoop area of the Barents Sea.
The firm drilled three wells Apollo, Atlantis and Mercury, all of which fell short of becoming a viable commercial discovery.
“We are naturally disappointed with the results of this summer’s drilling campaign in the Hoop area,” said Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil senior vice president for exploration on the Norway continental shelf.
“However, it is important to understand that Hoop is a frontier area of more than 15,000 square kilometres with only six wells completed to date, so we do not have all the answers about the subsurface yet. Non-commercial discoveries and dry wells are part of the game in frontier exploration. They provide important knowledge about the area.”
This is the latest setback for the Hoops area campaign.
Earlier in the year, Greenpeace activists stopped all operations when they boarded and occupied a rig for two days in May. They were protesting exploration in Arctic waters.
In 2011 and 2012, Statoil made two significant oil finds – Skrugard and Havis – which renewed the global appetite for Arctic exploration.
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