After words, actions. Returning from COP28, the Norwegian Minister of Oil and Energy, Labor Terje Aasland, assured that the agreement signed in Dubai on December 13, 2023, establishing the gradual abandonment of fossil fuels, “wouldn’t change anything for Norway”, the largest oil and gas producer in Western Europe. What matter are the repeated calls from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to “leave coal, oil and gas in the ground where they belong”or those of the International Energy Agency, which asks to stop investing in new projects.
Tuesday January 16, the minister showed that he was serious. At the conference in Sandefjord – a municipality south of Oslo, where everyone who counts in the Norwegian hydrocarbon industry meets every year – Mr. Aasland announced the granting of 62 new exploration licenses, in so-called “mature” areas (already exploited), the highest figure in four years.
If it’s not a record, we’re getting close. By 2023, forty-seven permits had been issued. “We are in the top 5 from a historical point of view”, underlined Mr. Aasland. Twenty-nine of these licenses concern concessions in the North Sea, twenty-five in the Norwegian Sea and eight in the Barents Sea. The permits were awarded to twenty-four companies, including the giant Equinor, 67% owned by the Norwegian state, as well as TotalEnergies and Shell.
“Seeing such interest in continuing exploration activities is very encouraging”rejoiced the minister, specifying that these permits were “ important for employment and value creation, but also to enable Norway to continue to be a stable energy supplier in Europe. He also wished to salute the companies which applied and, in doing so, showed that they were “aware of their social responsibilities”.
“Climate hypocrisy”
This announcement comes as the government, made up of Labor and centrists, gave the green light to nineteen extraction projects in June 2023 and the organization Offshore Norge plans record investments on the Norwegian continental shelf in 2024. They should reach 240 billion crowns (21 billion euros) against 220.5 billion in 2023, of which 31 billion will be devoted to exploration.
On Tuesday, around thirty activists from the environmental movement Extinction Rebellion attempted to block the entrances to the Sandefjord hotel where the conference was being held. On their banner, a message imploring the government to“stop development” and of “start dismantling”, a reference to the coalition agreement, presented in October 2021, in which the Labor and Centrist parties committed to “develop, not dismantle, the oil sector”.
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