No oil and gas - Norway has no plans to increase supply to the EU
The Norwegian government has postponed the issuing of new oil and gas exploration licences for another three years as part of an internal political deal. | The minority government needed the support of the Socialist Left Party (SV) to vote on the budget and was forced to make concessions on sensitive environmental issues for socialists. ● As a result the 26th licensing round for new oil and gas fields will not take place until September 2025. Although Norway has displaced Russia as Europe's largest gas supplier, there is no talk of replacing Russian energy sources altogether. The Norwegians are not yet producing sufficient resources. Investors' hopes have been focused on untapped fields in the Arctic. Now a significant increase in production by the end of the current government's term is out of the question. ● Approximate Norwegian oil production this year is expected to amount to ~730 mln barrels and natural gas production to 122 bcm. By comparison, Russia exported 155bn m3 of gas and 1,675m barrels of oil to Europe in 2021. ● Oslo's refusal to develop new fields effectively leaves the EU without the ability to get [...] energy sources anywhere else but the US. So we will have to continue overpaying for "freedom oil" several times over. (www.DeepL.com/Translator)