Very positive signs of oil have been found at the Dreki Area, on the Jan Mayen Ridge of Iceland. As reported last year, the Icelandic government intended to open the Dreki region for oil and gas exploration in January 2009.
The Icelandic oceanographic research ship Arni Fridgeirsson recently came from the area after mapping around 10.500 m2 of the area with advanced research scanning technology found strong indications of oil. Among the strong signs found are the same holes as found in the North sea and among them holes 15 meters deep and around 700 meters deep.
Such holes have been research heavelly by scientists and have been one of the indications of oil at location. Finding gas or oil sites would have a significant effect on the largely fossil fuel-free Icelandic economy. Iceland currently uses geothermal and hydroelectric energy for 99 per cent of its energy production.
For more information on the research go to the Icelandic marine research institute web site.
The first Iceland Oil Exploration Conference will be held in Reykjavik on September 4-5, 2008.
The first exclusive licensing round in Icelandic waters for the exploration and production of hydrocarbons, will be done in the northern part of the Dreki area on the Jan Mayen Ridge, northeast of Iceland, early 2009.
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The Norwegians said that building the infrastructure would be so expensive that they could never see it happening. Even if there is a lot of oil there it will never be economic to recover it.
The Icelandic marine research institute sent the research vessel Árni Friðriksson to the Dragon area and they found nothing of interest, this is 150 nautical miles out and at depth of 2000 meters, making this a expensive and high risk project.
When i heard of this expedition it crossed my mind that the crew are probably all ex fishermen who love the sea and would never find anything that might harm it or cause a disaster, like oil.
I guess they reported this correctly thoug.
I hope there is nothing out there, we dont need it and its most certainly not worth the risk.
>The first Iceland Oil Exploration Conference will be held in Reykjavik on September 4-5, 2008
http://www.nea.is/oil-and-gas-exploration/conferences/iceland-exploration-conference-2008/ corrected link.
Good links to useful PDF presentations on Dreki there from Norway exploration companies and others.
Hi Taylor,
It is worth clarifying that the author of this (old) article was obviously talking about non-transport energy (i.e. electricity, hot water and heat for cooking and space heating). Iceland is as dependent on fossil fuels for transportation as any other country.
Having said this, the country uses almost no coal or natural gas at all and is developing alternatives to petroleum, including hydrogen and methane technologies.
Thanks for reading IceNews
Alex Elliott, editor
Iceland has a 99% fossil free economy?
That is an amazing stat unto itself.
With the discovery of oil, I’m guessing this is more of an export play as why would anyone go to fossil fuel if they are already set up with renewable energy like geothermal and hydroelectric energy?
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