‘A middle finger to the Paris Agreement': Norway faces backlash over renewed push for Arctic oil

The Norwegian authorities is calling connected vigor giants to ramp up lipid and state exploration projects successful distant regions similar the Arctic Barents Sea, defying a consciousness of palpable vexation among clime campaigners arsenic the Nordic state seeks to enactment up its presumption arsenic Europe's largest state supplier.

The rethink successful strategy comes arsenic Norway strives to support up with increasing request for its vigor exports successful the aftermath of Russia's full-scale penetration of Ukraine.

Norway last year overtook Russia arsenic Europe's biggest earthy state supplier and says it is present seeking to support Europe's vigor information by exploring the Barents Sea for further resources.

Speaking successful the municipality of Hammerfest precocious past month, Norway's Petroleum and Energy Minister Terje Aasland reportedly said that the manufacture should "leave nary chromatic unturned" successful their pursuit for caller hydrocarbon discoveries successful the Barents Sea.

Aasland adjacent described this argumentation arsenic the lipid and state industry's "social responsibility," according to Bloomberg, saying undiscovered resources could assistance to support the country's aboriginal accumulation levels.

Norway lipid and state elephantine Equinor and Vår Energi, 1 of the country's largest exploration and accumulation companies, confirmed to CNBC that the curate precocious issued this call.

A spokesperson for Norway's petroleum and vigor ministry, meanwhile, said that the connection to vigor giants was "to research each economical lipid and state resources wrong the disposable areas, including successful the Barents Sea."

Norway has pumped lipid and state from its continental shelf, a comparatively shallow conception of seabed disconnected its coast, for much than 50 years and it presently has respective lipid and state fields either successful accumulation oregon nether development.

It is estimated that astir two-thirds of the country's undiscovered lipid resources lies disconnected the country's bluish seashore successful the Arctic's Barents Sea. And yet, the tendency among vigor companies to research the Barents Sea for lipid and state has been comparatively subdued successful caller years, successful portion owed to precocious costs and constricted opportunities to export state to markets.

At the commencement of the year, however, Norway said it planned to connection vigor firms a grounds fig of lipid and state exploration blocks successful the Arctic.

Environmental campaigners astatine Friends of the Earth Norway, WWF-Norway and Greenpeace Norway person described the country's lobbying for continued lipid and state enlargement arsenic "embarrassing," "extremely reckless" and "a mediate digit to the Paris Agreement."

"Oil drilling successful the Arctic is similar pouring gasoline connected a fire," Frode Pleym, caput of Greenpeace Norway, told CNBC via email.

"Both Norway and the lipid corporations request to halt cynically exploiting Russia's warfare successful Ukraine," Pleym said. "The assertive and greedy lipid argumentation of Norway bash not lone consolidate Oslo's presumption arsenic a apical vigor supplier to Europe, it locks a full continent into aboriginal dependency connected fossil fuels. The alternate to lipid and state is not much lipid and gas, it is much vigor ratio and renewable energy."

The burning of fossil fuels, specified arsenic coal, lipid and gas, is the main operator of the clime crisis.

Norway has been 1 of the world's apical crude producers for the past half-century acknowledgment to its gigantic North Sea petroleum deposits — the spoils of which person been utilized to supply a robust information nett for existent and aboriginal generations.

Oil and state companies judge the Barents Sea tin play an important relation successful ensuring the semipermanent marketplace entree for gas, noting the improvement of the resources successful this country should acceptable wrong the EU's Arctic policy.

A spokesperson for Equinor told CNBC that the institution hoped to spot "new charismatic acreage successful the Barents Sea." They added, "we privation to research for much and we deliberation we volition find more."

Responding to the biology concerns of Arctic lipid and state drilling, a spokerson astatine Equinor said, "We person a agelong way grounds of offshore operations successful harsh environments with precocious standards connected safety, information and sustainability."

"We cognize the Barents portion good and enactment unneurotic with the authorities to program and execute our operations successful a sustainable mode with arsenic small arsenic imaginable interaction connected the environment."

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the authorities bureau liable for the regularisation of petroleum resources, recently lamented the deficiency of exploration successful the Barents Sea, saying its calculations amusement that specified enactment "is profitable successful each water areas."

Separately, a mid-April survey from state infrastructure relation Gassco said gathering a pipeline to transport state produced successful the Arctic Barents Sea could beryllium worthy re-examining owed to the state stepping up its state exports to Europe.

A spokesperson for Vår Energi described the Barents Sea arsenic a strategical hub for lipid and state drilling, 1 that provides a "manageable, ice-free" portion of the Arctic with upwind and clime conditions similar different parts of the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

It is for this reason, Vår Energi says, that the Barents Sea should not beryllium compared to different Arctic regions characterized by harsher conditions, adding that the institution abides by strict biology regulations.

Climate run groups refute this logic, informing that immoderate lipid spill successful this country would spell catastrophe to the affluent but acutely susceptible ecosystems and marine life.

"Russia's warfare against Ukraine does not warrant a further propulsion for Arctic lipid and gas, arsenic it tin instrumentality astir 15 years to spell from exploration to production," Truls Gulowsen, person of Friends of the Earth Norway, told CNBC.

"Norway is making a immense nett disconnected vigor prices successful Europe and fewer countries person specified a beardown ground to pb connected clime policy," Gulowsen said.

Ragnhild Waagaard, clime and vigor pb successful WWF-Norway, said it is understandable governments privation to code the vigor situation and precocious vigor costs causing existent hardship for galore radical but warned that doubling down connected fossil fuels volition not help.

"Countries should rapidly boost their uptake of renewable energy, summation vigor ratio and trim request for energy. The choices we marque now, and the mode governments respond to the evolving vigor crisis, volition find whether we win oregon fail," Waagaard said.