The government of Norway, one of the largest oil and gas exporters to Europe, said Friday it signed off on new drilling permits in its territorial waters. Norwegian energy company Statoil was granted a drilling permit for a well in the Snøhvit field in its northern territorial waters. “This is the first well to be drilled in the license area,” the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate stated. The Norwegian government confirmed a sizable discovery of oil and natural gas at the Snøhvit field in the Barents Sea three years ago at 525 billion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas and more than 130 million barrels of recoverable oil reserves. According to government estimates, there are roughly 18 billion barrels […]