The EU needs more gas, but Norway has so far said no to increasing deliveries. The Minister of Petroleum and Energy will soon travel to Brussels to meet the EU’s energy chief.
Minister of Petroleum and Energy Marte Mjøs Persen (AP) told NTB she would meet Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson in February in Brussels.
The EU Commission informed NTB that the meeting would take place on Tuesday, February 22.
The meeting is part of the well-established, bilateral energy dialogue between Norway and the EU. The situation in the energy market will be a theme in the meeting, Mjøs Persen said.
High electricity prices
Like Norway, Europe is struggling with sky-high electricity prices.
The EU now fears that Russia, Europe’s largest gas exporter, will reduce its supplies to the continent in order to exert political pressure on the Union, which has threatened sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine.
The European Commission has thus turned its attention to Norway, the second-largest gas supplier to Europe after Russia.
“We are talking to other gas suppliers, such as Norway, about increasing deliveries to Europe,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said when she met the German press on Monday this week.
No more gas to give
But Norway has no more gas to give, State Secretary Amund Vik in the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (MPE) told NTB in January.
He also said that he was not aware that there had been any inquiries to Norway from the EU Commission recently with questions about increasing gas exports to Europe.
“We export as much as our pipe system can handle,” Vik said on January 27.
Mjøs Persen repeated the same message on Thursday.
“The fact that gas from Norwegian fields is sold by commercial companies, and that our fields – with the exception of the Snøhvit field, which is temporarily shut down – produce at full capacity, is well known to the EU Commission,” Mjøs Persen said.
According to NTB, at the beginning of February, the MPE communicated to the EU Commission at the official level that Norwegian companies are making full use of the production capacity in the fields.
Record-breaking results
The high oil and gas prices are good news for Equinor, which announced record operating results on Wednesday.
During the year, the company increased its production of oil and gas by 3.2%.
“Equinor has focused on safe and stable operation as a reliable energy supplier. Together with partners and the authorities, we facilitated a significant increase in gas production to Europe,” CEO Anders Opedal said.
Last year, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy increased production permits for gas in the Oseberg and Troll fields.
On May 17, the Melkøya plant outside Hammerfest will probably be put back in operation. The plant produces liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Snøhvit field but has been closed since a fire broke out in 2020.
Source : NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayFinance
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