Norway eyes exploration in new Barents Sea region

OSLO, April 27 (Reuters) - Norway's energy minister said on Tuesday that a Russian-Norwegian agreement on their Barents Sea border will make it possible to map out the region's resources and enable oil and gas activities in the new Norwegian sector.

"This means that we can define parts of this area as our own, we can search the sea bottom and map out the resources, and we can foresee activities in this area that we could not do before," said Norwegian energy minister Terje Riis-Johansen.

"This is a completely new start in this area which I believe is much bigger than I think than many people think it is," he told Norwegian state broadcaster NRK.

(Reporting by Oslo newsroom)