Norway Sees Oil, Gas Promise in Barents Sea Mud Volcanos

---

Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The offshore regulator for Norway is looking at recently discovered mud volcanos in the Barents Sea as possible indicators of new fossil-fuel reserves. The Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) said as many as 10 new mud volcanos were discovered in waters as deep as 1,500 feet in the western part of the Barents Sea.

"We wanted to see whether it was possible to document more mud volcanoes, and we wanted to map and take samples from natural gas seepages," said Rune Mattingsdal, a geologist at NOD.

Geologists look for certain clues when trying to find new reserves of oil and natural gas. Salt deposits are one such clue: Their movements create fractures in the surrounding materials that allows oil and gas deposits to move closer to the surface. Find those salts, and fossil fuels could be nearby.

Salts are in the subsurface layers of the Santos Basin off Brazil. Brazil's National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels is forecasting a substantial increase in production, aiming to reach 4 million barrels per day (BBL/d) by 2025 and 5 million BBL/d by 2030. Brazil averaged 2.8 million BBL/d in 2023.

Norway, however, expects its offshore production to peak next year, so the discovery of mud volcanos could be promising.

"The mud volcanoes around the world are often associated with hydrocarbon deposits and may, therefore, be of interest in connection with exploration for oil and gas," Mattingsdal said Thursday.

Much of what's left in Norwegian territorial waters is in the Barents Sea. The government in May said it would open 37 blocks in the Barents and Norwegian seas to would-be drillers, something it said was necessary to maintain production.

A well drilled in the Barents by Norwegian energy company Var Energi, however, was confirmed dry by the offshore directorate last month.

Analysis from the International Energy Agency (IEA) finds Norway is the seventh-largest gas producer in the world, satisfying about 3% of the global demand. Oil is similar, with Norwegian supplies accounting for about 2.3% of total global production.

With Western economies avoiding Russian oil and gas supplies for fear of enriching its war coffers, importers are increasingly looking to the likes of Norway to fill the void.

Norway's government reported that oil production averaged 1.85 million BBL/d in April, the last full month for which Oslo has published data. That's about 5% higher than expected, and just above the 1.8 million BBL/d realized at that point last year.

Gas production, meanwhile, came in at 1.8 billion cubic feet per day, about 7% above the government's forecast, but below both month-ago and year-ago levels.

State-backed Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) (Stavanger) saw a reduction in profits during the first quarter because of lower natural gas prices. Production of 2.16 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d), however, marked a 34,000-BOE/d increase from year-ago levels.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).