No Russian seismic surveys in Barents Sea
Russia will not begin seismic surveys on their side of the newly established border in the Barents Sea this year, a Norwegian petroleum web site writes.
According to several different sources, the Russians will not start seismic surveys on the eastern side of the so-called delimitation line this year, Petroarctic writes.
This means that the seismic vessel “Harrier Explorer”, which is chartered by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, will be operating alone in the area rest of the season.
The weather conditions in the Barents Sea have been very good in the last months, and the vessel has collected data from 7000 kilometers of this year’s collection program, which covers 12 700 kilometers.
The vessel started collecting data in the Barents Sea on July 8, the day after the Norwegian-Russian Agreement on Delimitation of the Barents Sea came into force.
The seismic surveys will be concluded next autumn, which means that the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate will have the results ready sometime in the winter 2013. The first drilling will not start until 2014. If the Russians start seismic surveys next summer, they could also have analyzed results ready by 2013. In all likelihood both countries could start simultaneous exploration of the area in 2014.
