Shell Gas Find in Norway May Be Biggest in 12 Years

June 19 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, made a natural gas discovery at a record depth in the northern Norwegian Sea that may equal the size of Norway’s annual production of the fuel.

The find was made in the Gro prospect 360 kilometers (224 miles) offshore Brønnøysund in Nordland and is estimated to hold 10 to 100 billion standard cubic meters of recoverable gas, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said today. The country had net gas output of 99 billion cubic meters last year.

“It’s a significant find for the Norwegian Sea,” Shell spokesman David Williams said by phone from The Hague. “We’ve only got one well, one point of data, so there’s not enough data to be specific. We’ll continue to reassess the data and plan what we’re going to do as quickly as possible.”

The find may the biggest since Ormen Lange in 1997. Norway, the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter and second-biggest gas supplier, is boosting gas output to make up for dwindling crude production after 40 years of pumping oil. The country is opening more of its unexplored northern waters to drilling in areas such as the Norwegian Sea.

To read the entire story written by Marianne Stigset on Bloomberg.com click here