Norway's Oil Industry Working in Extreme Conditions

ScienceDaily (Nov. 23, 2012) — The northward shift of Norway's oil industry means it must adjust to temperatures down to -30°C, storms, sleet and snow, and drift ice. And to the blackest night.

"Try to imagine changing a tyre in freezing weather, snow and darkness," says professor Tore Markeset, a specialist in cold climate technology at the University of Stavanger (UiS).

That is his way of visualising the challenges facing oil companies seeking to produce oil and gas from the far north of the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS).

Weather, winter darkness, vast distances, and safety and emergency response challenges for petroleum facilities in the Barents Sea will all be more extreme than in the North Sea.