The former no-man's land is enticing the oil giants, by Robert Corzine.

The current fashion in the oil industry is to focus on exploiting existing reserves in the long-established main producing countries of the Middle East and elsewhere. But at the recent Offshore Europe exhibition in Aberdeen, the UK's oil capital, there was ample evidence that remote frontier areas remain on the corporate radar of more than a few companies.

The Faroe Islands and Greenland have not been seen as traditional oil areas, but a large presence of officials from both governments at Aberdeen suggests interest in such remote locales is growing. Some oil companies, at least, believe that technology will be able to overcome the barriers to exploration and development in such harsh areas.

There has been much talk about the Faroe Islands in particular, which is preparing to launch its first exploration licensing round early next year. This follows an agreement signed by the island's government and the UK this summer to end a long-standing territorial dispute about the so-called White Zone, a remote area of the Atlantic Ocean which has caught the imagination of many geologists.

"It's the best exploration opportunity in Europe," says Donal O'Driscoll of Texaco, the US company which has been among those that are especially interested in the area. "It was a great boost for us when they agreed to demarcate the border."

The compromise agreement is expected to lead to fairly rapid developments on both sides of the new border. The UK government is also expected to launch a new licensing round for the area, although a court case brought against it by Greenpeace, the environmental pressure group, will first have to be dealt with.

Greenpeace is most concerned about the effect the oil companies will have on the pristine nature of the remote marine environment. It argues that new sources of oil in such frontier environments should in any case be unnecessary, given greenhouse gas reduction targets.

Oil executives say drilling in the White Zone will probably not start until 2001, although there has been considerable seismic work done already in the area to probe the large number of substantial geologic structures which could contain oil reservoirs. The companies have had almost four years to study some of the seismic data, and competition for the most attractive blocks is expected to be intense.

Even the biggest companies, such as BP Amoco, one of the few operators in the Atlantic margin, say they are keen to take part in the exploration of the White Zone, a sure sign that the area offers at least the potential for big new discoveries.

One of the problems of the zone, however, is its unique geology. Thick layers of basalt, the dense rock from which the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland is made, covers much of the area. Such rocks make it difficult for geologists to know what lies beneath. In some areas, especially close to the Faroe Islands, it can be extremely thick, which means much of the potential exploration acreage is non-prospective with today's technology.

But the basalt layer thins considerably as it gets close to the White Zone, hence the industry's more immediate interest.

The opening of the White Zone will give a much needed boost to exploration of the Atlantic margin generally. Although the area has not proved to be as prolific as some early forecasts suggested, its ultimate potential is still not clear.

Several companies which are thought to have made discoveries have been reluctant to confirm them, in part because much acreage remains unlicensed and they do not want to tip their hand in case they weaken their bargaining position for securing additional exploration blocks with similar geologic features.

Developing those discoveries which have been publicly confirmed has also proved problematic, given the remote location and difficult geology. There is persistent speculation about the Clair field, a giant discovery made by BP Amoco some years ago whose difficult geology has, however, proved a barrier to development.

The Aurora project is another on-again, off-again project. It would involve a co-ordinated development of several natural gas discoveries. Mr O'Driscoll at Texaco says studies into the feasibility of such a project are continuing, albeit at a measured pace. The remoteness of the discoveries is not the key issue, he contends. Instead much depends on market conditions in the UK and Europe: "That is the most important issue."