Reykjavik Transit

This week Norway's Riis Johansen held a seminar on exploration in Arctic areas and led a delegation to Jan Mayen to take a closer look at the possibilities for exploration.The plans are only territory establishment, they say, and will never be carried through, Norway just wants to show strength in front of Iceland, who recently opened up for search activities in adjoining sea areas.

Norway and Iceland in 2008 signed an agreement clarifying an accord from 1981 on exploring for oil and gas between Iceland and Jan Mayen, which was annexed by Norway in 1926. Iceland has a head start and started offering licenses this year in the southern part of the so-called Jan Mayen Ridge, for which only two companies applied. The agreement states that Iceland is entitled to 25 percent of the potential oil production in Norway’s territory in their joint fossil fuel exploitation area between Iceland and Jan Mayen, dubbed the “Dragon Zone,” and Norway to 25 percent of the potential oil production in Iceland’s territory.

Results will be announced in October, Bloomberg.com reports.

Labels: Dragon Zone, Iceland, Jan Mayen, Norway, oil exploration, oil production, Riis Johansen