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Archive for the ‘Norway’ Category

Norway’s licensing pause applies only to frontier areas

Posted in energy policy, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , on December 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Symbolic gesture or troubling precedent?

OSLO, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Norway will not issue licences for energy companies to explore for oil and gas in frontier areas during the life of the current parliament, which ends in 2025, its oil and energy minister told Reuters on Tuesday.

“SV (Socialist Left Party) has had this as a demand for this year and we went along with that. And have accepted that this can be held off for this parliamentary period,” (per Minister of Petroleum and Energy Minister Terje Aasland).

Aasland said there was “no drama” in the decision as authorities still issue licences to oil companies in a parallel licensing around called the APA round, in so-called mature areas that are already open to oil companies.

Reuters

Meanwhile NPD reports a dry hole 17 km north of the Heidrun field in the Norwegian Sea.

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Important update from PSA Norway

Posted in Norway, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , on September 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »

-The government has decided to implement measures to strengthen preparedness related to infrastructure, land facilities and installations on the Norwegian continental shelf.

-Part of the background for the increased preparedness is reports of increased drone activity on the Norwegian continental shelf that we have seen in recent weeks. It concerns drones of various sizes. Activity has been increasing, especially in September.

We have called for increased vigilance from all operators and shipowners on the Norwegian continental shelf.

Circumstances where drones have violated safety zones around facilities are now being investigated by the police. We refer to Sør-Vest Police District for questions about this.

-On Tuesday, it became known that the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines were damaged, probably due to sabotage. The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority does not want to speculate on who is behind it, or other circumstances related to the incident.

-On Thursday 29 September, we invited the parties in the oil and gas industry to an extraordinary meeting in the Security Forum to discuss the ongoing events

PSA Norway

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Nord Stream pipeline investigation

Posted in accidents, natural gas, Norway, pipelines, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on September 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »

The quote below is encouraging. Hopefully, the technical team will be able to function independently, and will have strong leadership. I would like to see participation by the Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway.

“There are good teams in place to handle pipeline accidents, there are emergency pipe inventories and experts for onshore and offshore,” Jens Schumann, managing director of gas pipeline grid company Gasunie Deutschland, said.

Reuters

Meanwhile the seemingly straightforward Huntington Beach pipeline spill investigation drags on one year after the incident.

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Nord Stream pipeline leaks: The plot thickens as Norwegian operators report mysterious drone sightings

Posted in accidents, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, tagged , , , , on September 27, 2022| Leave a Comment »

This notice from the Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway adds yet another twist to the Nord Stream saga:

In recent times, Ptil has received several notices/messages from operator companies on the Norwegian continental shelf about observations of unidentified drones/aircraft in the vicinity of offshore facilities. We have called for increased vigilance from all operators and shipowners on the Norwegian continental shelf.

Here is Nord Stream’s update on their investigations into the pipeline leaks:

Nord Stream AG has started mobilization of all necessary resources for a survey campaign to assess the damages in cooperation exchange with relevant local authorities. Currently, it is not possible to estimate a timeframe for restoring the gas transport infrastructure. The causes of the incident will be clarified as a result of the investigation.

Meanwhile, Swedish seismologists have reported explosions near the leaks.

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Wise words from the Norwegian Oil and Energy Minister

Posted in energy policy, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , on September 14, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Comments from Terje Aasland, Norwegian Minister of Oil and Energy, after a strong licensing round during which 26 applications were received:

We need exploration and new discoveries to maintain the production of oil and gas over time, which is important both for Norway and Europe. The applications in TFO 2022 show very good interest among the companies active on the Norwegian continental shelf in looking for new petroleum resources. This is very gratifying, says Oil and Energy Minister Terje Aasland (Ap)

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President Zelenskyy to speak (remotely) at ONS 2022

Posted in conferences, energy policy, Norway, tagged , , , on August 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Energy security will be a featured topic at the conference. Note the lineup for the Zelenskyy session:

President Zelenskyy will be introduced by the Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, and will be followed on stage by Elon Musk, Ben Van Beurden (CEO, Shell), Patrick Pouyanné (CEO, TotalEnergies) and Anders Opedal (CEO, Equinor) among others. 

ONS 2022

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Norwegian gas – important then, even more important now

Posted in gas, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , on July 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »

towing the Troll platform, 1995

Good article from our friends at the Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway. When old guys reminisce, people need to listen 😉

“Reagan feared that the world, and especially Europe, would become too dependent on Soviet gas, and saw Troll as an opportunity to create greater independence.”

“Lerøen sees parallels to the current situation, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the importance Norwegian gas has for the EU, which wants to become independent of Russian gas.” 

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Norwegian offshore workers strike

Posted in energy policy, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , on July 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »

“Norwegian offshore oil and gas workers went on strike Tuesday. The stoppage could reduce the country’s gas output by almost a quarter and intensify supply chain shortages due to Russian gas boycotts by EU nations.” 

dw.com

I couldn’t find any data on the typical length of these strikes, but my recollection is that they are usually rather brief.

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Norwegian strike appears to have been averted

Posted in Norway, tagged , , , on June 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Norwegian offshore worker disputes tend to be resolved without major work stoppages, and fortunately that appears to be the case with the latest dispute. This would not have been a good time to take Norway’s 1.8 million BOPD and 11.5 BCFD of gas off the market, even briefly.

NPD photo

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Alexander Kielland tragedy – 42 years ago today

Posted in accidents, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , on March 27, 2022| Leave a Comment »

123 workers lost their lives in the North Sea.

Tiå går og di seie tiå lege adle sår
Men ein mista bror e sår som aldri gror
Kanskje vil dårr gå vinter og vår
Sei oss klart kor dokker står
Håpte på at han sko komma
At han sko komma hjem igjen

Time is gone, they said; time would heal all wounds
But to lose a brother is a wound that will never heal
It could take as long as the never-ending winter and spring [i.e., never]
I hope that he should come
That he should come home again

Excerpt from the Alexander L. Kielland (1980) Song

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