Norterminal`s future location at Gamneset is located near Kirkenes main airport in a fjord that shelters a possible new harbor and terminal facilities from the open and rough Barents Sea. Russian waters are just a few hours away.

Kirkenes is believed to be a central trans-shipment location for the Northern Sea Route along Russia’s Arctic coast to Asia. To the west is the Northwest Passage, believed to be important for oil and gas shipments out of Arctic Canada and Russia and Norway. Ship operators are already talking about a Trans Polar Route straight across the North Pole. The rapid melting of the Arctic ice-cap is changing the geopolitical map in the north with new global trading routes for shipping.

Both Norwegian and Russian authorities are now opening the earlier disputed waters just north of Kirkenes for extensive oil exploration. Big oil companies like Exxon, Eni and Statoil have all signed cooperation agreements with Rosneft for the fields on the Russian continental shelf. Eni and Statoil are already in the start-up phase for fields in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea. Russian Lukoil knocks on the door to the Norwegian shelf.

Development of new oilfields in the Barents Sea and the opening of new shipping lanes from Russia and Norway make Finnmark the strategic suitable place for interim storage and trans loading of both oil and gas.