Norway prepares to drill extensively in the Barents Sea despite the European Union

Determined to preserve its hydrocarbon exports, Norway is preparing for extensive drilling in the Barents Sea, even if this means defying the European Union. Environmental protection clearly does not appear to be a priority…

For years, the European Union (EU) has viewed Norway as a source of clean energy. Its extensive hydropower dam network has notably led to the Scandinavian country being portrayed as the Old Continent’s “green battery”, able to offset the intermittency of European renewable energy through huge subsea cables connected to Germany or the United Kingdom.

That era is now over. In an interview with Reuters, Norway’s Energy Minister, Terje Aasland, said that this was a “mistaken” idea. Deep integration with the European market directly exposes Norwegian households and businesses to price surges.

Oslo has therefore decided to draw a line under the costs and will not build any further interconnector lines. While many member states shut down their nuclear or coal-fired power stations without planning what would follow, Norway now refuses to act as a balancing mechanism. The country is consequently urging the EU to strengthen the stability of its own electricity grid.

Norway will drill in the Barents Sea regardless

However, that is not the only break with previous policy. The divide is just as clear regarding hydrocarbons. While the EU had until now advocated a moratorium banning all new oil and gas extraction in the Arctic in order to protect a fragile ecosystem, Norway is refusing to yield: drilling in the Barents Sea will continue whatever happens, in response to energy-security requirements.

For context, the country is Europe’s leading gas supplier, accounting for almost 30% of supplies to the EU and the United Kingdom. Having recently authorised the reopening of three gas fields closed since 1998, the state has also made 70 new exploration blocks available, mainly in the Barents Sea.

If the EU declines to buy these resources, they will instead be exported to other continents. The government argues that its Arctic areas are ice-free, making the risk of an oil spill comparable with that in the North Sea. It also points to national sovereignty and the need to sustain employment in these highly strategic regions bordering Russia.

Environmental consequences of Arctic offshore drilling

Offshore drilling creates underwater noise pollution: seismic surveys using acoustic blasts seriously disrupt marine mammals’ navigation, communication and breeding cycles, while driving fish stocks away. In addition, the continuous discharge of used produced water releases heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into the ecosystem, where they build up along the marine food chain.

In the Arctic’s cold waters, natural oil breakdown by micro-organisms is exceptionally slow, raising fears of the worst in the event of an oil spill. Severe storms, winter darkness and the remoteness of emergency-response infrastructure make containing a leak almost impossible with current technology.

According to reports from the IPCC and environmental NGOs such as WWF, expanding hydrocarbon extraction in these fragile ecosystems also accelerates biodiversity loss and directly conflicts with pathways intended to limit global warming.