As a part of its plan to do a major oil exploration expansion in the Arctic, Norway will auction up to 136 new blocks in a major licensing round despite its commitments to tackling global warming and opposition from environmental groups.
125 of the oil exploration blocks to be auctioned are located in the Arctic Barents Sea. The new round could open eight regions of the Barents Sea unavailable for exploration, each with a range of blocks, and one region of the Norwegian Sea.
The licensing round is Norway’s 25th and was once postponed by the long-running environmental debate, culminating in a compromise that left significant room for more Arctic licenses.
On Wednesday, Minister of petroleum and energy Tina Bru said that the expansion is needed by the country to protect jobs and generate wealth. “We need new discoveries to uphold employment and value creation,” Bru underlined.
Analyst Per Magnus Nysveen of Rystad Energy opined that the announcement is a special invitation to supermajors to return back to the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS), which have been left by companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil, and Total as many of the findings have either been dry or too small for them.
The decision came even when Norway is signed up to the Paris agreement to tackle global warming. Norway also has pledged to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in line with the EU even when it is not a member.
However, this does not cover emissions produced by fossil fuels extracted from its territory and then used by others.
Environmental groups are hardly opposing Norway’s decision. Greenpeace’s head in Norway, Frode Pleym, commented, “This clearly shows the Norwegian government’s actions are not based on what is scientifically required to address the climate crisis.”
