EU energy director is skeptical in Norwegian Arctic plans.

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European Commission Director General for Energy, Philip Lowe, warns against oil drilling off Lofoten and in the Arctic.

– The more oil we extract from the soil, the greater the risk, both financially and environmentally, because you have to move into the increasingly dangerous waters. No one should embark on oil drilling in the Arctic without consulting their partners, Lowe says to Dagbladet.

He will not make the distinction between Lofoten and arctic regions further north.

In Arctic conflict

t’s not the first time EU warns Norway against drilling in the North. In September last year, the European Parliament’s environment committee on cessation of oil drilling in the Arctic. Then traveled Secretary Per Rune Henriksen of Petroleum and Energy to Brussels and spoke EU opposite. To Nationen he said that “it is almost as if we were to express an opinion on camel running in the Sahara, which we do not have anything to do,” but nevertheless felt that it was important to be in dialogue with the EU.

International treaties stipulate that resource extraction on the shelf is Shelf state responsibility. Norway has driven oil and gas in areas that can be defined as the arctic in 30 years, but the company is moving ever further north. Last fall, said both Ola Borten Moe and Secretary Espen Barth Eide positively about drilling further north in the Arctic. The government sent out an impact assessment on Jan Mayen hearing, and the case shall refer the matter to Parliament before Easter. Environmental authorities said yesterday that they are negative. Front parliamentary elections will be a new debate about oil drilling off Lofoten, Vesterålen and Senja. On both sides, the supporters and opponents. Conservatives and the Progress Party is for, while the Liberals and Christian Democrats are opposed. A red-green policy has been to allow areas to be, but Ola Borten Moe said in November that he wants activity outside Lofoten.

Want the gas

Lowe’s otherwise very positive for Norwegian gas, and says to Dagbladet that it will play an important role as a reserve when the EU will increasingly be getting their power from wind and solar, although the EU has a vision to reduce emissions from the power sector to nearly zero by 2050.

– I think the EU’s gas imports from Norway will increase. The gas can also have other uses, such as in transportation, he said.

 

Translated to English: http://translate.google.no/translate?sl=no&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=no&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dagbladet.no%2F2013%2F01%2F11%2Fnyheter%2Fpolitikk%2Fregjeringen%2Fstortinget%2Flofoten%2F25179025%2F

Norwegian: http://www.dagbladet.no/2013/01/11/nyheter/politikk/regjeringen/stortinget/lofoten/25179025/