The Norwegian government, the oil directorate and the oil industry itself have all confirmed what climate activists feared. They’ll keep searching for and producing offshore oil and gas until either it or demand for it disappears. That was further confirmed this week, when new Oil & Energy Minister Sylvi Listhaug handed out 69 new exploration […]
Debt adds to the oil dependency threat
June 5, 2019
NEWS ANALYSIS: Norway’s dependency on its oil and gas industry isn’t the only thing threatening the economy. After a week of falling oil prices, state financial regulators are also sounding alarms over Norwegians’ record high household debt at a time when interest rates are due to rise. “The household debt burden, measured in terms of […]
Climate debate will still flare in Norway
December 17, 2018
NEWS ANALYSIS: Norway nurtures an environmentally conscious image, but the country still has a long way to go in tackling its own climate challenges. Its oil and gas companies, offshore sector, farmers, airline passengers and commuters have a lot more changes to make if the country is to meet the climate goals to which it’s […]
Huge investment planned for ‘Troll’
July 3, 2018
Norway’s newly renamed oil company Equinor and its partners announced more huge new investment in their large Troll oil and gas field in the North Sea on Tuesday. With oil prices rising, the plan calls for extending the field’s lifetime and tapping its value for all it’s worth. The Troll field, located around 65 kilometers […]
Norway exports record amounts of gas
November 14, 2017
Never before has Norway exported so much gas as it did during the last 12 months ending in October. Norway’s Statoil also emerged as one of the largest exporters of gas to the EU. Newspaper Aftenposten reported that demand for gas increased in Europe by 20 billion standard cubic meters from October 2016 to October […]
Troubled ‘Goliat’ knocked out again
November 14, 2017
Norway’s Labour Minister Anniken Hauglie has vowed that the chronically troubled Goliat platform in the Barents Sea won’t be allowed to restart operations until all its problems are corrected. It’s been shut down once again by the state petroleum agency, at a time when safety concerns on offshore oil installations are rising. “There is no […]
Climate law passed as more oil urged
June 2, 2017
Despite all the concerns about the climate and carbon emissions, the International Energy Agency (IEA) urged Norway this week to keep expanding its offshore oil and gas exploration and production. Norway’s state-owned oil company Statoil, meanwhile, has cut carbon emissions by 80,000 tons, and Parliament agreed Friday to cut all emissions in Norway by 40 […]
Power plant closure ‘great’ for climate
February 15, 2017
Norway’s biggest oil and energy company, Statoil, was finally being hailed on Tuesday after it announced that it was shutting down its gas-fueled power plant at Mongstad on the country’s west coast. The plant has been hugely controversial since even before it opened in 2010, it has generated heavy losses for Statoil, and its closure set for the end of next year […]
New oil minister bullish as usual
February 14, 2017
Terje Søviknes, a veteran politician from the conservative Progress Party, made his North Sea debut as Norway’s new oil and energy minister this week when he officially opened the Ivar Aasen field, around 175 kilometers off Karmøy. Søviknes has already proven himself to be just as bullish on Norway’s oil industry as all his recent predecessors. Søviknes […]
‘Scandal’ looms at Statoil refinery
October 28, 2016
Top officials of Norwegian oil company Statoil were summoned on Friday to the offices of state oil industry regulators for the second time this week. They were ordered to explain why they withheld information about systems errors that have inadvertently disrupted and even halted production at Statoil’s oil refinery at Mongstad. The errors, which stretch back to 2014, […]
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