The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate's resource classification system

Abstract

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has the responsibility of keeping record of all petroleum resources on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Its classification system is appropriate to the NPD's needs and the situation on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The NPD Classification System was established in 1985, and it has been revised twice, in 1991 and late 1993. The NPD system is somewhat different, compared to the USGS-System and the recently revised SPE Resource Classification System. These differences are briefly explained. The main part of the paper is devoted to the NPD definitions of resource categories, the naming convention, the units and how particular discoveries and the total resource base are presented from the NPD's side. The sofware system “PROFF” is also explained. “PROFF” is a database system developed for the NPD to perform statistics and presentations of resource estimates. The paper also gives references to publications on resource figures from Norway.