Oil May Become Norwegian Export

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31117, 21 July 1966, Page 5

Oil May Become Norwegian Export

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter)

OSLO. Oil may become Norway’s fourth main export, together with shipping, fishing, and industrial products if deposits are found off her heavily indented coastline.

If operations do result in finds of either oil or gas in commercially exploitable quantities, experts believe that the 70-year balance of payments deficit may be turned into a surplus.

The search for oil will begin in earnest when a big drilling platform, the size of a football field, arrives at Stavanger, in west Norway, this month. Drilling off the coast is expected to start a few weeks later.

By that time, the platform, the Ocean Traveller, will have completed an 8200-mile journey across the Atlantic, towed by two Dutch tugs. The Ocean Traveller is a striking example of the technical and scientific problems involved in oil exploration in the North Sea.

Built by the Ocean Drilling and Exploration Company of New Orleans, Louisiana, the huge platform is a semi-sub-mersible unit with living quarters for 51 men. It floats on four giant pontoons. Two are 350 feet long and two 214 feet in length. United States interests will use the most modern underwater equipment, including diving chambers to depths of up to 400 feet, in their search for oil

To submerge the platform for drilling, its columns and horizontal pontoons will be partially flooded with seawater. A two-sphere diving chamber will hold two divers and an observer. Weather a Challenge

The search for oil off the Norwegian coast has, however, to meet a big challenge in the weather, which is not only bad, but also difficult to forecast. Especially during the winter, it can change completely in only a few hours, and oil men know that experiences in many other areas of the world may pale when they start drilling off the Norwegian coast.

Weather will be decisive in securing a steady and safe supply of heavy equipment, materials and provisions for the rig, and safe transport of the crew.

Experience has shown that if waves are six feet high or more, supplies cannot be safely transferred to the rig. In the North Sea, waves reach that height for four months of the year. Winds of 100 miles an hour are not uncommon. Transport and servicing of the Ocean Traveller will be done by helicopters, with ships used for heavy supplies and equipment. The helicopters, seating 28 passengers or taking a load of three tons,

are of the twin-jet Sikorsky S-61N type. Oil drilling offshore is three to five times as expensive as drilling on land. An average well in the North Sea is estimated to cost between £500,000 and £1 million. It costs about £5OOO a day to operate a platform. Should oil companies find oil or gas in the Norwegian continental shelf, they may still have to wait a long time before making any profit on their capital investment.

Normally, it takes about two years to determine the extent of an off-shore oil or gas deposit. But it may take up to five years or more to make it commercially exploitable. Concessions Granted Nine companies and groups have applied for and received concessions from the Norwegian Government to drill for oil in Norwegian waters. For the next six years, they have undertaken a programme which will cost £2om. During this period, they will pay to Norway fees totalling £lm. If oil or gas is found, Norway will receive a 10 per cent production fee, levied on the gross value of oil or gas at the well-head. Taxation on the oil deposits will also be a welcome source of revenue. Already, a contract for drilling rigs has been signed with the Aker Combine of shipyards and mechanical works, and there is hope of further contracts for rigs. Exploration will have other effects on the Norwegian economy. The drilling rigs will need equipment, supplies and food, and Norwegian industries should be able to secure a fair share of such deliveries. One company has already established a base near Stavanger, stimulating business and municipal activities. Norway’s total oil consumption is about 5m tons a year because most of her power comes from waterfalls. Large oil deposits off her coast would not immediately lead to any considerable increase in oil consumption. But the country would obtain a new and valuable source of income by exporting oil.