"I get just as excited every blasted time we start to drill," admits the veteran, who has travelled the world in the hunt for hydrocarbons.

"You get a special feeling when a discovery’s made. It’s almost like being out fishing. Fish taste just as good whatever their size, but it’s more fun to land the big ones."

He supervises and organises drilling on the basis of the well design provided by the land-based organisation at Forus outside Stavanger.

That work is based on expectations about the way the sub-surface geological formations will behave, and Mr Asbjørnsen makes it clear that this is a big job.

"It’s not just a case of spudding in the bit and starting to drill. We must constantly take account of the big variations in pressure and temperature down there."

Expectations for the formations are calculated on the basis of seismic data, and a well planned drilling programme can considerably reduce the time required.


When a well often has a budget of several hundred million kroner, a lot of money can be saved by being properly