Norway's Barents bounce
The death of Arctic exploration has been greatly exaggerated—in Norway, at least
The words frontier and Arctic have been anathema to most cost-conscious explorers since the oil price headed south, so Norway's efforts to bring the two together by trying to entice drillers to the Barents Sea carried some risks. That this effort has met with some success shows Norway is not your typical oil province—and a fresh discovery is likely to provide a springboard for further activity. Lundin Petroleum's Filicudi discovery in the western Barents Sea, announced in February, may not be the biggest, with a gross resource estimate of 35m-100m barrels of oil equivalent. But its location in the PL533 block is on trend with the Statoil-operated Johan Castberg discovery, just 40km north-wes
Also in this section
1 April 2026
Golden Pass’s startup offers QatarEnergy a timely boost but may also force a difficult choice between honouring disrupted contracts and capitalising on soaring spot LNG prices
1 April 2026
It is not a case of if or when, but the length and magnitude of economic damage from elevated oil prices
1 April 2026
The US-Iran conflict demonstrates the need for diversification in several senses of the word. It also exposes the limits of Washington applying pressure on major oil and gas producers it considers geopolitical adversaries
31 March 2026
Disappointing results in its bidding round are a reality check for Libya, and global exploration generally
