The Barents Sea contains significant amounts of natural resources as fish, seabirds and sea mammals, and is generally considered an environmentally sensitive area. Facing decline in exploration activity in present areas, the oil industry in Norway needs new areas for exploration and possible production. The Lofoten and Barents Sea areas are among the most interesting areas in this respect.

The Norwegian Government stated when it came into power in 2001, that no further petroleum activities should take place in the Norwegian Barents Sea before the potentials for environmental impacts and co-existence with the fishing industry were fully assessed. A thorough process was thus initiated early 2002 to study all potential impacts on natural resources, the environment, other industries and the society. A total of 27 thematic studies have been undertaken and a summary report has been written as to form a basis for a political decision.

The paper introduces the process that has been run, including experiences from stakeholder dialogue at the various stages. Further, the paper presents the main results of the work, focusing on environmental issues and other issues of importance to the decision making process.

Keywords:
knowledge gap, knowledge management, probability, barent sea, relation, seabird, upstream oil & gas, preparedness, knowledge base, assessment
Subjects:
HSSE & Social Responsibility Management, Environment, Risk Management and Decision-Making, Information Management and Systems, Contingency planning and emergency response, Oil and chemical spills, Knowledge management
Copyright 2004, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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