Publication Date:
March 2013
Print Run:
5,000 copies
Main Events:
Arctic Technology Conference, Offshore Technology Conference
Other Events:
Offshore South East Asia, Offshore Europe, Offshore Northern Seas, Subsea Aberdeen, Subsea Tiebacks Forum
Advertising:
Open
The Arctic Frontier - Have we reached the end of easy oil?
With increasing global consumption and depleting reserves, oil companies are looking to frontier areas to meet future demand. The Arctic holds the world's largest remaining untapped gas reserves and some of its largest undeveloped oil reserves. A significant proportion of these reserves lie offshore, in the Arctic's shallow and biologically productive shelf seas. According to the oil industry, the Arctic is the "final frontier" for petroleum development.
The Arctic, however, holds new and unique challenges for oil companies and offshore service companies. The environment alone poses risks for safety, technologies and infrastructure, while the remoteness of the area will make getting Arctic reserves to market challenging.
The N62 degree region has long been viewed as a huge resource for oil and gas but the harsh unforgiving conditions and tricky economics have made it unappealing, but this viewpoint is now changing.
The world's established regions of the Gulf of Mexico to the North Sea, Middle East, West Africa, Latin America, South East Asia and Australasia and more recently China and India, are full-filling our thirst for oil, but demand grows and traditional reserves are being expended. Attention is now turning to the Arctic Circle, which covers about 6 per cent of the earth's total surface and is one of the last regions of any significant size yet to be explored for oil and gas.
More specifically, the focus now is upon offshore resources in the Arctic Circle, in continental shelves under less than 500m of water. Onshore areas in the region have already been explored, with some 40 billion barrels of oil, 1,136 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 8 billion barrels of natural gas liquids having been developed, primarily in the West Siberian Basin of Russia and on the North Slope of Alaska.
But the real dilemma is "Exactly how much untapped oil is there in the region?"
The area north of the Arctic Circle has an estimated 90 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil, 1,670 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas, and 44 billion barrels of technically recoverable natural gas liquids in 25 geologically-defined areas thought to have potential for hydrocarbons.
According to the latest 2009 USGS report, these resources account for about 22 per cent of the undiscovered, technically recoverable resources in the world. The Arctic accounts for about 13 per cent of undiscovered oil, 30 per cent of undiscovered natural gas, and 20 per cent of the undiscovered natural gas liquids in the world. About 84 per cent of these estimated resources are expected to occur offshore.
Exploration for petroleum has already resulted in the discovery of more than 400 oil and gas fields north of the Arctic Circle. The Arctic is a frontier region and oil and gas development will require the building of massive infrastructure.
The base map will feature a complete regional overview, showing both the current operational status of the region, including operational oil and gas fields, fixed platforms, floating production systems and pipelines. The map also includes detailed map insets featuring the major producing areas with all up-coming oil and gas fields, fixed platforms, floating production systems and pipelines being planned or considered through to 2015.
Within the Map, advertising will be restricted to 11 positions though there is scope for companies to "double up". The map provides a unique marketing aide for leading operators, contractors and manufacturers to promote their services, facilities and major new project references to the global oil and gas industry.
Map technical specifications
Base Map Image:
Enlarged Inset Maps & Other Information:
Infield has a proven background in the supply of accurate and detailed market forecasts utilising the unique and proprietary OFFPEX Market Modelling & Forecast System. As used by many major operators, contractors, suppliers and financiers around the world and to produce Infield Systems' 'Global Perspectives' range of market reports, OFFPEX is the only complete 'bottom-up' model of the offshore industry.
This map will contain detailed analysis from OFFPEX on the regions up-forecasts of expenditure (US$m) and activity covering:
Please note that due to clients buying offline the shop is not immediately updated and therefore the chosen slot may not be available, though we will give priority to those buying online with a credit card.