TotalEnergies eyes new exploration in Norway, CEO says

By Nerijus Adomaitis and America Hernandez

STAVANGER/PARIS, Aug 24 (Reuters) - French oil major TotalEnergies will appoint a new exploration manager in Stavanger, Norway, to examine new projects in the country, its CEO said on Norwegian television on Monday.

"The Norwegian continental shelf is a very prolific basin, we see it as having potential for the future," Patrick Pouyanne said on the sidelines of the ONS energy conference in Stavanger.

Pouyanne described Norway as the natural energy supplier for Europe, where TotalEnergies hopes to expand its market share as European Union countries seek resources closer to home in light of disruptions in the Middle East due to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

Following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Norway became Europe's largest supplier of natural gas, meeting around 30% of the gas demand of the European Union and Britain. 

"We spend $1 billion per year in exploration around the world, and it's one of the seven countries where we have decided to make a special effort ... If the geology is good, we'll allocate the capital," Pouyanne said. 

TotalEnergies currently produces 220,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the country, or about 10% of its overall production, making it Norway's fourth-largest producer when excluding the state-owned Petoro.

The French company holds the largest amount of regasification capacity in Europe to import liquefied natural gas, and is the largest purchaser of U.S. LNG.

"Because I believe politically it will be difficult to see Russian gas coming back to Europe, it's a natural new market that we want to develop... either with Norwegian gas or LNG," Pouyanne said.

(Reporting by America Hernandez in Paris and Nerijus Adomaitis in Stavanger;Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)