2023-07-08 04:00:05
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store (left) visits the Troll A gas platform in the North Sea, accompanied by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg , and the head of Equinor Anders Opedal, March 17, 2023. OLE BERG-RUSTEN / AFP
Nothing works. Neither the exhortations of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which considers that the time has come to abandon any new oil or gas project, nor the repeated pleas of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, calling to “leave oil, coal and gas in the ground, where they belong”. As Europe’s largest gas supplier in 2022, Norway has no intention of slowing down.
Evidenced by the recent announcements of the government composed of Labor and Centrists which, after having awarded 47 new exploration permits for mature areas in January, and proposed 92 additional blocks for exploration for 2024, has just authorized, on 28 June, nineteen extraction projects on the Norwegian continental shelf, for a total value of more than 200 billion crowns (17 billion euros).
In Oslo, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy justifies this decision by the need to ensure “Europe’s energy security”. To compensate for the drop in Russian gas deliveries to Europeans, Norway has already increased its production by 8% in 2022: “This corresponds to 100 terawatt-hours of additional energy supplied to the European market”says Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, State Secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.
2022, year of record profits
Two initiatives in particular helped to increase deliveries: “First, we have reduced the amount of gas we inject into oil wells to increase extraction. And then we delayed some maintenance work that was not critical”explains the Secretary of State, who specifies that these measures “will ensure a high level of production in 2023 and for the next four or five years”before the exploitation of new deposits takes over.
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This increase in production, combined with that in energy prices, has enabled Norway to record record profits in 2022, reaching 1,457 billion crowns (125 billion euros), according to the Institute. center of statistics, three times more than in 2021. Profits which have further increased the value of its sovereign wealth fund, now exceeding 15,300 billion crowns.
These huge gains have caused the Nordic country to be taxed with “war profiteer”. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store dismissed the charges, saying Norway was “a lucky country”but that it had also produced energy resources for fifty years “at own risk”. For his part, Andreas Bjelland Eriksen points out that the kingdom was able to meet the increase in demand in 2022, because its management of resources “is based on long-term business decisions”. Furthermore, he adds, Norway has put in place “one of the biggest support programs for Ukraine”with 10.7 billion crowns already paid in 2022 and 75 billion planned over the next five years.
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