Norwegian government clears Austrian energy company OMV for drilling in the frigid northern waters of the Barents Sea. Photo courtesy of the Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway

OSLO, Norway, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- The Norwegian government said it awarded a license to Austrian energy company OMV to drill two new exploration wells in the Barents Sea.

OMV gets consent to drill two wells in a license area designated as 537. The field is located about 166 miles away from the northern tip of Norway in the frigid waters of the Barents Sea.


Drilling will be carried out by a Transocean rig named Spitsbergen.

Drilling in the Barents Sea has been met by controversy from environmental activists concerned about the potential threat from oil spills. Greenpeace last year declared victory when Norwegian energy company Statoil completed a Barents Sea campaign with fewer commercial discoveries than expected.

Greenpeace said the limited success of Statoil's program indicated the campaign in frontier waters of the Barents Sea wasn't worth the risk. More than a dozen Greenpeace demonstrators took part in a protest against Statoil's drilling plans for arctic waters by boarding the Spitsbergen rig last year.

The Arctic waters of the Barents Sea hold significant oil and gas reserves, but exploiting those reserves comes with significant risk. While Norway has one of the most advanced offshore drilling programs in the world, the International Energy Agency said concerns run the gamut from ecological to economic risks.

The Norwegian government has called on energy companies working in Arctic waters to observe requirements related to distance from ice sheets "so the environmental assets along the ice edge are safeguarded."

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The safety authority calls on oil and gas drillers working in arctic waters to stay about 30 miles away from ice zones.