With the vast majority of the world turning to the renewable energy sector, which has become as popular as the latest iPhone, some nations are sticking with what works and relying on expanding upstream capacity. Norway is one such nation. Now, the country has revealed that it plans to invest $2 billion in a vast North Sea development to tap into fresh oil and gas reserves recently discovered. Like a Viking ship in the Middle Ages, Norway is heading full steam ahead into new territory, searching for the elusive beast that is new oil and gas reserves.
Equinor and its Fram partners to invest billions to extract fresh oil and gas in Norway
Norway has long been at the mercy of the substantially large “big oil” companies that operate in the country; thankfully, the nation has not given up on the conventional energy resources that have essentially built the modern-day society.
While the renewable energy wave has swept across the world like the wind of Valhalla, Norway is sticking to its guns and plans to invest $2 billion in a new subsea development called Fram Sør. The project is a combined venture between several companies that each hold a different percentage of the project, such as:
- Equinor holds 45%
- Vår Energi ASA (40% interest)
- INPEX Idemitsu Norge AS (15% interest)
“Fram Sør will contribute to security of energy supply from the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) to Europe. The development will put new oil and gas resources on stream by connecting new infrastructure to existing facilities that provide good and robust profitability.” – Geir Tungesvik, Equinor’s executive vice president, Projects, Drilling & Procurement
Discoveries of oil and gas reserves have set Norway up to expand its upstream operations in the North Sea
Way back in 2019, Equinor and partners discovered oil and gas reserves in the Fram area of the North Sea, just off the coast of Norway. That discovery, called Echino South, supported the overwhelming belief that the region has more oil and gas stored away in secret. Over a four-year period, up to 9 different new oil and gas discoveries were made.
The Enchino South discovery, along with several other smaller ones, forms the basis of Fram Sør. Equinor and its partners now plan to invest up to $2 billion to explore the region and hopefully tap into new oil and gas reserves.
“We have done a thorough job maturing the new resources discovered in the Fram and Troll area in recent years. Fram Sør shows the importance of area solutions and close collaboration between partners and authorities in order to realize the resource values on a mature NCS. We have a large portfolio of projects that will phase in discoveries to our producing fields. Equinor expects to put more than 50 such projects on stream by 2035.” – Kjetil Hove, Equinor’s executive vice president for Exploration & Production Norway
Several other exceedingly large energy companies have outlined plans to boost upstream production in other regions of the world, which points to the fact that the trend of the renewable energy sector is losing steam, and the world is turning back to the traditional upstream sector.
Norway’s oil and gas sector has grown beyond expectations in recent months and years
The Fram Sør project is not the only development coming out of the Viking nation in recent months, with Vår Energi greenlighting four new Norwegian gas and oil projects, with plans to add even more by the end of the year. The return of the exploratory projects of the upstream sector comes as no surprise to some, as the industry insiders understand that the wave of renewable energy projects that have splashed across the sector in recent years may require a complete reform of aging infrastructure and need substantial investments, which some are simply not comfortable making at the present moment.
