Norway prepping to open Barents Sea to energy explorers

Norwegian energy company Statoil said Thursday it was making strides in opening up new exploration areas in the Barents Sea.

The company announced it finished a seismic survey program in the southeastern waters of the Barents Sea through a multilateral process. Statoil said new forms of cooperation in that field translate to a more efficient way to acquire data.

"This warrants rethinking and exploring new business approaches and forms of cooperation in order to reduce costs and work more efficiently also elsewhere," Jan Helgesen, Statoil's head of geophysical operations, said in a statement.

The company said data would be ready for review by late 2015. This in turn would help with a licensing round for the southeastern Barents Sea, the first new area opened up on the Norwegian continental shelf since 1994.

Last year, Norway sent 92 percent of its oil exports and at least 98 percent of its gas exports to European markets.

The European economy is looking to diversify an energy sector dependent on Russia. Norwegian Energy Minister Tord Lien said his country has the resources and infrastructure in place to serve as a steady partner in the European energy sector.