Norwegian oil group Statoil said on August 29, 2017, that exploratory drilling in the Korpfjell prospect area in the Arctic, which experts thought may contain the country's largest oil find, had been «disappointing», The Local Norway reported.
Statoil said in a statement, that the 1st test well showed only small volumes of natural gas, «not large enough for commercial development».
Korpfjell is located on the northernmost block ever opened to oil exploration in Norway, in the southeastern part of the Barents Sea, and Statoil plans to continue exploration next year.
The area has long been disputed between Russia and Norway, and was only opened to oil exploration after the 2 countries reached a maritime border agreement in 2010.
Norway is the largest oil and gas producer in Western Europe, and consulting agency Rystad Energy was quoted in the media in December as saying that Korpfjell could in the best-case scenario hold up to 10 billion barrels of oil, which would make it the nation's biggest field by far.
«The results are of course disappointing, but it is too early to draw any conclusions on how this will impact the Barents Sea southeast area,» said Jez Averty, Statoil's head of exploration in Norway and Britain.
Statoil is nonetheless planning further exploration in the southeastern area of the Barents Sea in 2018, including the drilling of a 2nd well in Korpfjell.
The Norwegian group owns 30 % of the Korpfjell licence, alongside Chevron (20 %), Petoro (20 %), Lundin (15 %) and ConocoPhillips (15 %).
