Norway court rejects environmental order against oil and gas field
The Norwegian Court of Appeal ruled on Monday in favor of the Government in an appeal brought by environmentalists who wanted to stop the development of three gas and oil fields. Greenpeace, among others, sued the Norwegian Government to stop the development of new oil and natural gas resources. This is the latest dispute related to climate change.
Equinor, Aker BP, Vaar face rising project costs, Norway budget shows
The Norwegian government announced on Monday that Aker BP, Equinor and Vaar Energi had raised their estimates of costs for major oil and natural gas development projects in the Norwegian continental shelf. The government's fiscal budget documents revealed that the cost of Equinor Johan Castberg is expected to rise from 80.3 billion crowns, which was estimated a year ago.
Aker BP begins production at Tyrving Oilfield amid legal battle between the government and Aker BP over approval
Aker BP, a Norwegian oil company, has begun production at its Tyrving off-shore oilfield. The Norwegian government is trying to overturn the court's ruling that the project approval was invalid due to the failure to evaluate the climate impact. The Oslo District Court in January ruled that the Norwegian energy ministry failed to assess fully the…
Norwegian Businesses See Rise in Wind Industry Orders
Onshore wind companies provided the largest revenue stream for the Norwegian renewables industry from sales of equipment, construction and consultancy services in 2019, overtaking hydropower, according to a report published on Friday.Onshore wind is a new source of energy for the Nordic country which has, for decades, relied on hydropower to produce nearly all of its electricity.Total Norwegian renewable industry turnover…
Lundin Energy Chief Schneiter: Output Trending Upward at Sverdrup
Norway's Johan Sverdrup oilfield, the largest in western Europe, is ramping up production in the fourth quarter after the government increased its production permit, Lundin Energy, a partner in the field, said on Friday.Equinor-operated Sverdrup increased its production capacity to 470,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) in March from an original 440,000 boed, but output was soon after capped by government-imposed lim
Norway Earmarks $369M for Green Industry Investments
The Norwegian government proposes spending 3.6 billion Norwegian crowns ($369 million) on investments to make its economy greener as it gradually emerges from coronavirus lockdowns, the government said on Friday."The crisis we are now in hasn't made the need for transformation smaller - it has increased it," Prime Minister Erna Solberg told a…
Norway Gov't Cuts Its Oil Price Assumption for 2020
The Norwegian government has cut its oil price assumption for 2020 to 331 Norwegian crowns ($32.17) per barrel from 476 crowns last October, a revised budget showed on Tuesday.Norway is Western Europe's largest oil and gas producer, with petroleum accounting to about 40% of its exports and about a fifth of the state's revenues.Oil prices fell…
Aker BP Cuts Dividend by Two-thirds on Oil Price Slump
Aker BP will cut its quarterly dividend payments by two-thirds due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in crude prices, the Norwegian oil firm said on Wednesday after reporting a better-than-expected first-quarter core profit.Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) came in at $666 million, compared with $539 million a year ago…
Equinor's $466M Floating Wind Farm Plan Approved
Norway approved on Wednesday Equinor's 4.8 billion Norwegian crowns ($466 million) plan to build floating offshore wind turbines that will provide electricity to North Sea oil and gas platforms, the energy ministry said.The long-planned project is going ahead despite Equinor's decision to cut investment following a plunge in oil prices that has…
"Green" Ammonia's Future as a Marine Fuel
Ammonia, the same pungent solution used in fertilizers and cleaning agents, may one day be the key to transporting renewable energy around the world. There are currently a number of government and corporate projects assessing the feasibility of converting excess renewable energy from sources like wind, solar, tidal and nuclear into ammonia and then back into usable energy.In its purist form…
IMO2020: The Rise of Bulk Liquid Hydrogen in Norway
Imagine a power distribution network where excess renewable energy from hydropower, wind, solar, and nuclear energy is converted to hydrogen and used as transportation fuel in the maritime industry. With the allure of a zero emissions fuel, a number of ship owners are starting to seriously consider hydrogen for newly built vessels. As a bold first step…
Book Review: Getting Down to It; 50 Years of Subsea Success in Norway
The Norwegian Continental Shelf’s journey from the very first basic marinized subsea trees to today’s complex and sophisticated subsea processing equipment has been a rapid, at times turbulent, but always remarkable.There are many engineers who have seen through that journey, from the first exploration wells using Norwegian rigs in the mid-1970s to today.
Offshore wind: The making of a (supply chain) star
Wind is “the tech of choice,” the International Energy Agency said recently, just as a new report by the University of Delaware outlined the opportunity in U.S. offshore wind: 5,000 miles of offshore cabling and 1,700 turbines, it turns out, are bundled into current state-side plans. Yet, serious observers of the first U.S. offshore wind installations saw inefficiency: unwieldy lifts…
NPD Report on High North Offshore
Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), Norwegian government agency responsible for the regulation of the petroleum resources on the Norwegian continental shelf, has presented a report on petroleum activity in the High North at the Barents Sea conference.The report titled "Petroleum activity in the High North" aims to place petroleum activity in the High North into a technological…
Norway Production Costs Rising
Petroleum production costs on the Norwegian continental shelf rose in 2018 after falling for three consecutive years, state-owned oil firm Petoro said on Thursday.Cost cuts were high on oil firms' agenda following a sharp fall in crude prices in 2014, making it possible to develop discoveries that had previously been considered too expensive,…
Inpex Wins Exploration Acreage Offshore Norway
Japan’s Inpex Corporation, through its unit Inpex Norge bagged two exploration licenses offshore Norway in Norway’s Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) 2018 licensing round.The PL1027is located in the western Barents Sea offshore and PL1016 is located in the northern Norwegian Sea offshore the Kingdom of Norway, it said in a statement.The annual…
Norway Postpones Decision on Arctic Oil Terminal
The Norwegian government has postponed a decision on whether to mandate the construction of an oil processing terminal near the Arctic tip of northern Europe until the third quarter of next year, it said on Friday.If built, the onshore Veidnes terminal would receive crude via a pipeline from Equinor's offshore Johan Castberg oilfield, which is expected to start producing in late 2022.Equinor originally ditched plans for an ons
BREAKING: Tanker, Frigate Collision Shuts Down Norwegian Oil, Gas to Europe
Norway has been forced to close the Sture Oil Terminal near Bergen and has started closing down the nearby Kollsness gas-and-condensate terminal — a lifeline of heating gas to Europe — after an early morning collision between a $440-million frigate and an oil tanker.The frigate Helge Ingstad, now listing heavily to its port side, is loaded with torpedoes and weapons systems said to be unstable as a result of the collision.
Wintershall Struggles to Boost Output from Norway's Maria Field
German oil firm Wintershall's flagship project in Norway - the Maria oil and gas field - is not meeting output expectations due to water injection issues, the company said on Monday.The field, which started nine months ahead of schedule at end-2017, was welcomed by the Norwegian government as an innovative project to squeeze more barrels from…
Norway Gets Bids from 38 Oil Firms in Licensing Round
A total of 38 oil companies have submitted bids for exploration acreage offshore Norway in a so-called predefined areas (APA) licensing round, the country's energy ministry said on Friday.Bidders include oil majors Shell, ConocoPhillips and Total, as well as Norway's Equinor and Aker BP, Sweden's Lundin and Italy's Eni.The total number of bidders was almost as high as the record 39 in the previous APA round last year.When anno
