Oil in Spitsbergen? Oil and gas have been looked for multiple times since the 1960, and nothing of economic value had been found so far. It did not seem a relevent question anymore, at least onshore.
Now it seems possible that there might be oil in relevant quantities where few would have expected it: naturally stored in the coal. The paleocene (60 million years ago) coal that is mined in Spitsbergen has an oil content that is higher than usual. Was the oil extracted from the coal and sold separately, then the value of one ton coal might see a significant rise: 150 oil-dollars against 70-80 dollars from coal sales, based on current world market prices. And even the residual coke might still be sold for energy production.
The oil potential of Spitsbergen’s coal reserves is roughly estimated at 700 million barrel: not a „gamechanger“ on the world market, but potentially very important for the local mining company, Store Norske. This does not include any reserves from coal older than the Paleocene. There is coal from the Devonian, Carboniferous, Triassic and Cretaceous in Spitsbergen, but these have not been investigated enough to say anything about their oil potential.
In any case, the value of the resources would rise significantly. This might also make coal seams interesting, that have so far been considered commercially unimportant.
If this ever becomes reality, is anything but certain: there is, so far, no process available that could be used commercially in Spitsbergen on an industrial scale. And any process would require substantial investments, something that would provide difficulties for Store Norske, which is currently facing a huge deficit. And finally, exploitation of so far untouched coal resources would be politically highly controversial, even in the oil-and-gas-country Norway.
Shipping coal from the port of Longyearbyen: will there be pipelines next to the cranes in the future?
Gas in Spitsbergen? Oil and gas have been looked for multiple times since the 1960, and nothing of economic value had been found so far. It did not seem a relevent question anymore, at least onshore.
Until recently, when gas was found by pure coincidence in quantities that has caused renewed interest and could actually lead to production in the future. It was during a research drilling for the CO2 storage project in Adventdalen (see “Longyearbyen CO2 neutral?” in spitsbergen-svalbard.com-news from May 2013) that gas started to flow out from the well with a constant pressure of 25 bar. The source rock is a shale at a depth of 700 meters. The owner of the area is Store Norske, the mining company that is running the coal mines in the same area (mine 7) and in Sveagruva.
There is, however, still a long way to go before any production might potentially start. Substantial and expensive explorative drilling is needed to investigate the nature and volume of the occurrence. If Store Norske is able and willing to invest heavily seems at least currently unlikely: the company is currently in a difficult economical situation.
It would be a twist of irony if reserach within a project designed to make the energy production in Longyearbyen CO2-neutral would lead to the production of even more fossil energy in Spitsbergen.
The CO2-Lab in Adventdalen near Longyearbyen: time will show if this is the site for future CO2 dumping or gas production.