Editing Barents Sea (section)

===Oil and gas===
{{further|List of oil and gas fields of the Barents Sea}}

Encouraged by the success of [[oil exploration]] and production in the [[North Sea oil|North Sea in the 1960s]], Norway began [[hydrocarbon exploration]] in the Barents Sea in 1969. They acquired seismic reflection surveys through the following years, which were analysed to understand the location of the main [[sedimentary basin]]s.<ref name="Dore1995"/> [[Statoil|NorskHydro]] drilled the first [[Oil well|well]] in 1980, which was a dry hole, and the first discoveries were made the following year: the Alke and Askeladden gas fields.<ref name="Dore1995"/> Several more discoveries were made on the Norwegian side of the Barents Sea throughout the 1980s, including the important [[Snøhvit|Snøhvit field]].<ref name="OT1">{{cite web | title = Snøhvit Gas Field, Norway | publisher = Offshore Technology| url = http://www.offshore-technology.com/projects/snohvit-field/ | access-date = 2 July 2014}}</ref>

However, interest in the area began to wane due to a succession of dry holes, wells containing only gas (which was cheap at the time), and the prohibitive costs of developing wells in such a remote area. Interest in the area was reignited in the late 2000s after the Snovhit field was finally brought into production<ref name="Statoil1">{{cite web |title = Snøhvit |publisher = Statoil Website |url = http://www.statoil.com/en/ouroperations/explorationprod/ncs/snoehvit/pages/default.aspx |access-date = 2 July 2014 |archive-date = 1 May 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160501233005/http://www.statoil.com/en/OurOperations/ExplorationProd/ncs/snoehvit/Pages/default.aspx |url-status = dead }}</ref> and two new large discoveries were made.<ref name=tb20120110>{{cite news|title=Norway Makes Its Second Huge Oil Discovery In The Past Year|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/norway-makes-its-second-huge-offshore-oil-discovery-of-the-year-2012-1|agency=Associated Press|date=January 9, 2012|quote=a well drilled in the Havis prospect in the Barents Sea proved both oil and gas at an estimated volume of between 200 million and 300 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalents.}}</ref>

The Russians began exploration in their territory around the same time, encouraged by their success in the [[Timan-Pechora Basin]].<ref name="Dore1995"/> They drilled their first wells in the early 1980s, and some very large gas fields were discovered throughout this decade. The [[Shtokman field]] was discovered in 1988 and is classed as a [[Giant oil and gas fields|giant]] gas field: currently the [[List of natural gas fields|5th-largest gas field in the world]]. Similar practical difficulties Barents Sea resulted in a decline in Russian exploration, aggravated by the nation's political instability of the 1990s.