Page 10 - Euroil Week 16 2020

EurOil POLICY EurOil
Norway mulls limits to Arctic exploration
NORWAY
The ruling party faces pressure from its opponents and its allies.
NORWEGIAN Climate and Environment Min- ister Sveinung Rotevatn is due to announce new environmental protection measures in the Bar- ents Sea later this week, as green groups exert pressure on the government to limit drilling in the area.
Several environmental organisations, as well as parties such as the Liberals and the Socialist Left Party, want to limit how far north the oil industry is permitted to operate in Arctic waters. Greenpeace wants to bring the boundary as far south so as to void several existing exploration permits.
“I trust our people in government to keep this issue high on their agenda,” Liberals leader Trine Skei Grande said in a television interview. “This issue is very important because the ice edge zone is a vulnerable nature area teeming with life, be it plankton, fish or birds.”
The Liberals are a minority partner in the Conservative-led government of Prime Minis- ter Erna Solberg. But the Conservatives also face pressure to block increased restrictions from one of their other partners, the Progress Party. Given the oil price collapse, Progress argues that the government should be doing all it can to support oil and gas investment and exploration activity, rather than stifle it.
“The Progress Party will not accept moving
the ice edge further south,” party boss Siv Jensen said on television. “I would like to remind the Prime Minister that she leads a minority govern- ment that depends on a majority in Parliament. She is the PM because the Progress Party pointed to her when we exited the government.”
“If the government now intends to base its oil and gas policies on other principles than before and find a majority without the Progress Party, thisgovernmentwillliveaverydangerouslife.”
A final decision on the boundary is scheduled to be made this spring, although some politicians have called for it to be delayed in light of the coro- navirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This would also mean that Norway’s next frontier licensing round, slated to be announced sometime this year, could also be pushed back.
Meanwhile, Norway’s Supreme Court is shortly due to hear a lawsuit opposing Arctic oil exploration, brought by Greenpeace and other environmental groups. These groups claim the government’s decision to award licences in the Barents Sea was illegal.
Two lower courts have backed the govern- ment’s position, however, ruling that its decision did not breach the Norwegian people’s constitu- tional rights to a healthy environment. The exact date of the supreme court’s hearing has not been disclosed. ™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 16 23•April•2020