Norway's regulator says potentially significant petroleum resources may lie beneath volcanic rock in the Norwegian Sea. New imaging technology is drawing interest from major operators. The scale and commercial viability of the opportunity remain unknown.
Equinor, Aker BP, Harbour Energy, TGS and EMGS presented technical work on exploration beneath volcanic formations at a seminar organized by the Norwegian Offshore Directorate in Stavanger on October 15. The interest centers on areas that have seen virtually no exploration drilling for more than 30 years.
Basalt hides a largely unexplored frontier
According to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate, potentially significant petroleum resources could exist beneath extensive basalt formations in the western Vøring and Møre basins. Norway opened these areas for petroleum activities in 1994, but they have drawn limited exploration activity.
The reason is technical. Thick volcanic layers make conventional seismic imaging exceptionally difficult, and no exploration wells have yet been drilled to test the formations beneath the basalt.
Vaka Antonsdottir, Assistant Director for Exploration at the Directorate, said in a statement published October 15: "there could be significant undiscovered resources there". The statement added that the areas are among the least explored on the Norwegian continental shelf.
New imaging methods could change the odds
Emerging technologies, including ocean-bottom seismic surveys, full-waveform inversion and electromagnetic methods, could improve the industry's ability to identify structures previously obscured by basalt. Artificial intelligence-assisted seismic interpretation may offer further improvements.
However, seminar participation does not necessarily indicate concrete drilling plans. Only one active production license currently focuses on volcanic-related exploration opportunities, according to the Directorate. Geological information is also insufficient to establish reliable estimates of recoverable resources.
Declining output after 2030 raises the stakes
The Directorate has warned that production from the Norwegian continental shelf could decline significantly after 2030 unless new discoveries and development projects offset falling output from mature fields. Exploration has increasingly concentrated on smaller discoveries near existing infrastructure, which may be insufficient to sustain production over the longer term.
Sub-basalt discoveries would not solve the decline immediately. They could, however, expand Norway's long-term resource base, and any commercial development would likely take many years.
Whether commercially recoverable oil and gas exist beneath the basalt remains an open question.
Source: Oilprice.com
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