The strong Norwegian interest in global energy affairs stems from the fact that Norway is a major energy nation. With just five million people, our country is the world’s second-largest natural gas exporter, the fifth-largest petroleum exporter (oil and gas together) and sixth in the world in terms of hydropower production.
We provide Europe with 35 per cent of its gas imports, a significant contribution to European energy security.
Our country is among the very few that are net exporters of energy. Statoil, partly owned by the Norwegian government, is among the world’s leaders in deep-water offshore oil and gas production, and another Norwegian company, Statkraft, is Europe’s largest renewable energy company. The revenues and taxes from oil and gas production are channeled to the Government Pension Fund Global, which is among the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, with a value close to US$550 billion.
In addition, Norway runs the world’s most comprehensive petroleum technology assistance program. “Oil for Development” provides experience and advice to more than 20 oil and gas countries in the developing world. And Norway is currently developing renewable energy support programs in such countries.
Climate change and energy policy
Energy policy cannot be separated from the global efforts to combat climate change. For Norway, this is the overreaching perspective — global warming is a major global concern for our government. The energy sector is a key to this and we believe big emission cuts must be taken worldwide if we are to stop global warming from escalating. Norway’s long-term sustainable energy policy lays the foundation for a low-carbon pathway for our society. This combines two responsibilities — to develop fossilfuel resources in the most sustainable way possible, and to develop renewable energy sources.
Norway will offer some solutions by producing carbon-neutral energy such as hydro or wind power, and by providing less carbon-intensive solutions (such as relatively cleaner gas) and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. For countries such as Canada and Norway, which will depend on fossil fuels for decades, it is essential to decarbonize natural gas and coal. Co-operation between Canada and Norway, reconfirmed by the recent visit of Norwegian Energy Minister Ola Borten Moe, is crucial in making more advanced CCS technologies to do so economically — in order to bring CCS technologies to market.
Energy production in the Arctic
The International Energy Agency expects energy demand to increase by at least 30 percent by 2030, and the Arctic could be among the most promising untapped energy regions in the world. According to estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey, the Arctic may hold as much as 22 percent of the world’s remaining oil and gas reserves, though there is, of course, considerable uncertainty attached to this number.
To balance environmental and climate concerns in this framework is a challenge for Arctic nations such as Russia, Norway,Canada and the U.S. Provided that environmental and climate concerns are adequately handled, we believe it is feasible to slowly start exploring how to harvest significant energy resources in the Arctic. In fact, a major conference on how to prevent oil spills in the Arctic took place under the Arctic Council’s auspices in Oslo in October and was attended by Canadian officials. We don’t expect a major rush or conflicts over energy resources in the region, as ownership and governance are already well-established through the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention.
There are a number of examples of new energy opportunities in the far north. They include the Shtokman project (led by Russia’s Gazprom, with Norwegian and French interests on a large offshore gas field in the Barents Sea), the new deal between Rosneft of Russia and Exxon of the U.S. in the Kara Ocean, last year’s delimitation agreement between Norway and Russia in the Barents Sea, and Chinese investment in an LNG plant in the same area.
Energy production moves North
The High North is a main focal point for the Norwegian government. The aim is to safeguard a sustainable development there, and this implies expanding economic activities to develop employment, growth and welfare. The energy sector is an important part of this. Norway has had fantastic exploration results this year. In the mature, fully developed North Sea, the Aldeous/Avaldsnes oil discovery might prove to be among the all-time top five oil fields ever discovered in Norway. Then there are the Skrugard oil discovery and the Norvarg gas find, both in the Barents Sea. There is also an ongoing effort to open up the area around Jan Mayen and new areas in the southern Barents Sea for oil and gas exploration.
Norway struggled for many years to solve the secrets of oil and gas in this body of water. The first discovery came in 1980, but it took more than 25 years to get it into production. Today, the future looks much brighter. We have LNG production. We have an oil discovery under development in the High North as well as the Skrugard site. Thirty years after opening this area for exploration, the northern energy focus has made a big push forward. The recent visit of Norway’s energy minister to Canada underlines the partnership between Canada and Norway for sustainable management of our respective northern energy resources.
