Arctic Oil & Gas News

Neste Jacobs to Study the Establishment of Arctic Environmental Protection Centre, posted on Virtual Strategy Magazine

Technology, engineering and project management company Neste Jacobs has on the basis of a public bidding competition arranged by the Finnish Ministry of Employment and Economy been awarded the contract to evaluate the initiative to establish the Arctic Environmental Protection Centre in Finland. The objective of the evaluation is to clarify the know-how and development activity on the Arctic oil and chemical incident prevention field under the Finnish research, industrial and authority sectors. Also the views and the requirements of the main stakeholders will be clarified during the study. Additionally the objective is to define the organization and the business model as well as the international context of the Centre. [Read More…]

Quietly flows the Kolva – an Arctic oil story, posted on the Barents Observer

The Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the Komi Republic have over the last ten years seen a major growth in oil production. As data from the area show, production in the Nenets AO in few years more than tripled. While oil companies in the region in 2000 produced 4,5 million ton, they ten years later produced more than 18 million. In the neighboring Komi Republic, the production have increased steadily from 9 million tons in 2000 to 13,7 million in 2012. After 2010, production in the Nenets AO dropped significantly following Lukoil’s failed production targets at ithe Yuzno-Khilchuyu field. But the figures are bound to bounce back soon. [Read More…]

Think “peak oil” is a discredited idea? Think again by Michael T Klare, posted on Grist

Among the big energy stories of 2013, “peak oil” — the once-popular notion that worldwide oil production would soon reach a maximum level and begin an irreversible decline — was thoroughly discredited. The explosive development of shale oil and other unconventional fuels in the United States helped put it in its grave. As the year went on, the eulogies came in fast and furious. “Today, it is probably safe to say we have slayed ‘peak oil’ once and for all, thanks to the combination of new shale oil and gas production techniques,” declared Rob Wile, an energy and economics reporter for Business Insider. Similar comments from energy experts were commonplace, prompting an R.I.P. headline at Time.com announcing, “Peak Oil is Dead.” [Read More…]

Navigating the Arctic minefield by Terry Macalister, posted on the Mail & Guardian

London Mining, a British mineral company, is trying to attract Chinese and other international investors to build a £1.5-billion iron ore mine just outside the Arctic Circle in Greenland. The move comes as BP and Shell were among those recently given four exploration blocks in the unsullied waters off the Greenland Sea, amid heightened concern that the wave of industrialisation will damage the pristine environment. Opposition to BP’s successful bid for the project is particularly vocal in light of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. [Read More…]