Norway assesses prospects for southern offshore regions

Offshore staff

OSLO, Norway – A specialist Norwegian team is preparing an environmental report on the North Sea and Skagerrak area off southern Norway.

The team is led by Norway’s Climate and Pollution Agency (Klif), and includes the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), and representatives from 14 agencies and institutes.

Their program involves submitting six assessments and one final report on the environmental condition of the sea area, and the area’s potential commercial significance.

“This work is important because this is the first time an overall assessment of the environmental condition in this sea area has been done,” says Arne Holhjem, director of environment and technology at NPD.

Norway’s government has indicated that it will submit a comprehensive management plan for the North Sea and Skagerrak in 2013. The six assessments will form the technical basis for the government’s comprehensive management plan.

Previous management plans have been adopted for the Barents and Norwegian seas. However, there are more issues in the North Sea and Skagerrak, Holhjem says, because the area is exposed to more external environmental impacts, and is also surrounded by industrialized countries on three sides.

5/14/2012