Glacial erosion processes need improved understanding

This paper reports that more than 10 years of oil and gas exploration in the Norwegian and Russian Barents Sea has resulted in few and moderate finds, mainly restricted to the Hammerfest basin. Major gas discoveries are reported off Russia. The Barents Sea off the two countries covers about 1.2 million sq km. Including the arctic Svalbard and Franz Josef archipelagoes, this area is comparable in size to the entire Gulf of Mexico or the U.S. east of the Mississippi River. Snohvit gas field is estimated by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate to contain 76 billion cu m of gas plus a thin oil zone. Many wells have revealed that Barents Sea structures have earlier been filled to a greater extent but the oil has leaked out.