Iceland sees little prospect for oil and gas in the Dreki area

The Environment and Energy Agency says the chances of finding oil or gas in commercially viable quantities in the Dreki area northeast of Iceland are low, mbl.is reported. The agency says decades of research provide no basis for inviting applications for new exploration or production licences there.

The Dreki area is part of the Jan Mayen Ridge. Several oil companies investigated it under licences from the Icelandic government, but their research found the geology was more complex than previously thought.

Thick basalt layers, extensive volcanic activity and movements in the Earth’s crust make older rock formations difficult to identify and may have disrupted potential oil and gas deposits. All companies that received exploration licences eventually returned them without drilling exploratory wells.

The agency also commissioned ÍSOR to independently review data submitted by licence holders. That review likewise concluded that volcanic activity and movements in the Earth’s crust had probably disrupted potential deposits across much of the area.

No exploratory well has been drilled in the Dreki area, so the presence of oil or gas cannot be ruled out entirely. However, the available evidence points to very low chances of finding deposits that could be extracted commercially. A well, likely to be three to six kilometres deep, would be needed to significantly reduce the remaining uncertainty.

The agency plans to make research data collected about the area available to the scientific community and the public where the law allows. It will also prepare rules and criteria for providing research and measurement data to parties interested in further study.