The Barents Sea, a clean and relatively undisturbed corner of the planet, looks set to become the new frontier for oil drilling as Norway presses ahead with a large-scale auction of oil exploration licences, despite opposition.
Most of Norway’s current oil output – the equivalent of around four million barrels per day – comes from offshore drilling in the North Sea but now the government believes the most significant untapped potential – up to 60 per cent of reserves – lies off the country’s north coast.
