Professor Dag Harald Claes at the University of Oslo warns against being overly optimistic about the prospects of finding oil and gas in the Arctic. Searching for gas reserves in Icelandic waters may bring no economic benefits, Claes stated at The Trans Arctic Agenda conference currently taking place in Reykjavík.
Photo: Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review.
Claes believes that it is unrealistic to expect that Northeast Iceland will become a research and oil production service center for the region, referencing Statoil pulling out of two projects in the Arctic due to unprofitable operations, ruv.is reports.
If gas rather than oil is found it is likely that the operations would not be profitable due to the difficulty in extracting the gas.
”I think everyone is too optimistic when it comes to gas and oil in the Arctic,” Claes concluded.
ZR
