Willem Barentsz

He said in today's geopolitical and security environment and given the resource situation, I believe continued activity in the Barents Sea serves both Norwegian and European interests.

Now the Barents Sea is a portion of the Arctic Ocean named after 16th century Dutch navigator and cartographer William Barents.

It's between the north coast of Norway and Russia and the Norwegian owned Svalbard Archipelago.

Norway has been active in the Barents Sea since 1961, and there are two fields, Snovet, which produces gas, and Goliath, which produces oil, with more explorations planned.