The report is an assessment of international standards for safe exploration, production and transportation of oil and gas in the Barents Sea. This project was partly funded through the Norwegian Government’s Barents 2020 program and partly by Russian and Norwegian Industry. Read the report online here, and/or order it from our webshop.
You may read the project report online, and you may also order the report from our webshop for a nominal fee covering only our shipping and handling costs.
Project description
The project took as a basic assumption that protection of the environment and the resources in the Barents Sea is a shared responsibility between Norway and Russia. This project has therefore aimed at creating a dialogue between relevant Norwegian and Russian parties regarding safety of petroleum related activities in the Barents Sea. The aim was to arrive at common acceptable standards for safeguarding people, environment and asset values in the oil and gas industry in the Barents Sea, including transportation of oil and gas at sea.
Development of offshore oil and gas fields in the Barents Sea represents major financial and technical undertakings which require international cooperation and risk sharing between several partners. A common set of internationally recognised safety standards adapted to Barents Sea conditions, which all parties can agree to, was and is, seen as a prerequisite for such projects to be developed.
The objectives of this Barents 2020 project can be summarized as follows:
Through identification of areas for harmonisation of HSE standards for use in Norwegian and Russian parts of the Barents Sea, the project aimed to contribute to:
- an acceptable and uniform safety level in the oil and gas activity in the Barents Sea
- a predictable HSE framework for oil and gas companies and contractors independent of nationality
- an improved basis for cooperation for all involved parties in the future
Further, the project aimed to identify areas where there is a need to
- update existing key industry standards to take into account the additional challenges related to arctic conditions, and
- contribute to creating a dialogue, and share knowledge, between relevant Norwegian and Russian parties.