Norway suspends issuance of new licenses for oil and gas exploration until 2025

Norway is suspending the issuance of new oil and gas exploration licenses for another three years, until 2025, according to the Financial Times. The government of the country agreed with the left parties on this in order to adopt the state budget.

Such actions violate Norway’s promises to do everything possible to help Europe overcome the energy crisis, the article notes.

Norway is increasingly positioning itself as a reliable supplier to Europe (previously, the Russian Gazprom positioned itself in the same way). This year, the country pushed Russia out of first place in terms of gas supplies to Europe, and it is also the largest Western European oil producer.

However, Norway will continue to issue licenses for existing fields, which allows oil and gas companies to expand production relatively quickly.

Gas prices in Europe reacted to this news by rising to $1,600 per thousand cubic meters for the first time since October. The cost of December futures at the TTF hub in the Netherlands rose to $1,605 per 1,000 cubic meters. m, or 149.68 euros per MWh.