Norway seeks to end climate order against three oil fields

Norway’s government will ask an appeals court on Wednesday to lift measures against the development of three oil and gas fields, as part of a broader effort by Oslo to overturn an earlier verdict invalidating their permits on environmental grounds.

A lower court ruled in January that Norway’s Energy Ministry had failed to fully assess the climate impact of the fields’ future use of oil and gas, so-called scope 3 emissions, in a lawsuit brought by Greenpeace and partner his Nature and Youth.

At the time, the court also ordered temporary injunctions against the development of the three fields known as Yggdrasil, Tyrving and Breidablikk.

But in March the appeals court suspended the order, giving the government and field operators Aker BP and Equinor freedom to continue working in the fields.

A hearing beginning Wednesday will determine whether the order should be lifted or permanently reinstated pending a final ruling on the legality of the land development permits at the heart of the case.

Norway, Europe’s biggest gas supplier and a major oil producer, fears court-imposed restrictions on new field development could hamper its most profitable industry and cost the country billions of dollars in lost revenue.

The government says that while it is trying to pump hydrocarbons for decades to come, it is abiding by the Paris climate accords that seek to limit global warming and has set a goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

Equinor’s Breidablikk field began production in October 2023, while Aker BP’s Tyrving began production this week, drawing criticism from plaintiffs.

“This just goes to show why bans on field development are needed,” Frode Pleym, head of Greenpeace Norway, told Reuters.

Yggdrasil, which is also operated by Aker BP, is due to start production in 2027.

($1 = 10.5899 Norwegian kroner)

(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik and Christian Schmollinger)

Related: