Research collaboration between academia and industry – ARCEx – the Research Centre for Arctic Petroleum Exploration
ARCEx is a research collaboration between academia (6 universities and 4 research institutes) and industry (6 industry companies). Through a common effort, we contribute to the understanding of the geology and resource potential of the high north, we develop new geophysical exploration techniques suitable for the Arctic, and we develop new models for environmental risk connected to operations in the north.
ARCEx will educate and train highly competent candidates for the industry and academia within petroleum geology and environment, and the centre will recruit at least 27 PhD and postdoctoral fellows. The centre has established a Master’s specialization in petroleum geology at UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
The research is carried out at 6 universities (UiT, NTNU, UiO, UiB, UNIS and UiS) and 4 research institutions (Akvaplan-niva, NGU and NORCE (prev. IRIS and Norut). The Department of Geosciences at UiT The Arctic University of Norway (UiT) is the host institution for the research centre.
ARCEx is funded by the Research Council of Norway (RCN #228107), 6 industry partners (Equinor, Vår energi, Aker BP, Lundin, Wintershall Dea, and OMV), Troms fylkeskommune, and by in-kind contributions. The total funding is approximately 231 MNOK, and the project duration is 8 years.
The main goal of ARCEx is to create new knowledge about the petroleum resources in the Arctic and to provide essential knowledge and methodology for eco-safe exploration.
This will be achieved through the following secondary objectives:
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- Enhance the understanding of large-scale processes of sedimentary basin formation and evolution of the Barents Sea and Arctic, and their impacts on petroleum systems.
- Secure correlation of geological events over large distances in diverse geological environments of the Arctic.
- Establish petroleum systems and play concepts for the different basins.
- Assimilate new ecosystem knowledge for the different basins into advanced impact and risk analysis methodologies.
- Develop technology for eco-safe exploration in the Arctic.
- Create a research-based education and training program based on the scientific themes of the Centre.
- Communicate results from the Centre to scientists, decision makers and the general public.