* Seismic survey is first conducted in zone by industry
* First offshore zone open to exploration since 1994
* Norway's Polarcus to participate - CEO
By Henrik Stolen
OSLO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Seventeen oil companies, includingmost of the majors, are teaming up to map the seabed in anArctic offshore zone once disputed by Russia and Norway, showingtheir eagerness to explore for oil in the remote region.
Despite recent setbacks such as the grounding of Royal DutchShell's drillship off Alaska, energy firms remain keento explore for crude in the area, which the U.S. GeologicalSurvey estimates to hold 90 billion barrels of oil.
The new area on the Norwegian side, which is as large asSwitzerland, is being opened to energy firms following a borderdeal between Oslo and Moscow in 2010. It is the first area to beopened off Norway in nearly two decades.
The Norwegian Oil Directorate had already mapped some of thearea. But on Tuesday, the Norwegian oil industry lobby said 17oil firms would cooperate in commissioning more surveys of theseabed.
They are: BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Eni, Royal Dutch Shell, Lukoil,Idemitsu, Repsol, Det norske,Wintershall, Suncor, VNG, PGNiG, Spike, Statoil, GDF Suez andLundin Petroleum.
Tendering will begin immediately, with surveying starting inApril next year and concluding in the autumn, Statoil said in aseparate statement.
Norwegian seismic surveyor Polarcus said it wouldparticipate in the tender, which might be big enough to securework for two or three seismic vessels that search for oil andgas deposits under the sea.
"This means there will be a lot of work coming up in theeastern part of the Barents Sea," Chief Executive RolfRoenningen told Reuters.