Swedish Lundin Petroleum to Drill in Arctic Despite Oil Price Slump

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Independent Swedish oil firm Lundin Petroleum will continue to drill for oil in the Norwegian Arctic sea despite the slide in global oil prices, the company stated Wednesday in its year-end report.

"We are very excited with the potential in the southern Barents Sea following our Gohta and Alta discoveries," Lundin's CEO Ashley Heppenstall said, in a statement accompanying the review.

The two oil discoveries off the Norwegian coast are estimated to hold about half a billion barrels of oil.

"I believe that as the major license holder in this area we will find significant additional oil resources and ultimately this will act as a catalyst for the development of this region… It is critical that exploration continues in the region despite current markets," Heppenstall added.

Lundin says further oil exploration could help it "create long term value" in today's oil price environment. The company posted a net loss of $437 million in the last quarter of 2014, after global oil prices slid by more than 50 percent over the past six months due to worldwide overproduction.

Many oil firms have been scaling down exploration of new oil and gas fields in the Arctic amid the oil price collapse. Norway's Statoil, and energy giants Exxonmobil and Chevron announced earlier they had shelved Arctic drilling plans indefinitely.

Anglo-Dutch firm Shell announced $15 billion in spending cuts, but said it may begin drilling in the Arctic region next summer.