Norway is seeking to overturn a court ruling against three oil field approvals

On Wednesday, the Norwegian government he asked an appellate court to set aside a judgment of a lower court which said the approval of three oil fields off Norway was illegal because the assessment did not take into account the environmental impact of the oil from these fields.

Earlier this year, the Oslo District Court ruled that the government’s approval of three new oil and gas fields, Breidablikk, Yggdrasil and Tyrving, all in the North Sea, was invalid because it did not take into account emissions from burning oil to the production of these fields.

The case was brought by Greenpeace Nordic and Natur og Ungdom (Young Friends of the Earth Norway). In January, the Oslo court agreed with the plaintiffs that Norway violated the fundamental rights of Norwegian citizens by giving the green light to plans for the fields but not including Scope 3 emissions in its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

The Norwegian government has appealed the decision and is set to present its case to the Borgarting Court of Appeal in hearings starting on Wednesday.

In March, the appeals court suspended the injunction against the development of the oil field. Hearings in the trial, which began on Wednesday, will continue until September 12.

At the end of the hearings, the appeals court must rule on whether the injunction should be lifted or permanently reinstated, pending a final ruling on the legality or otherwise of the oil field permit. A final judgment could take months or years.

Two of the three fields are already producing oil.

Production at Breidablikk, operated by Equinor, started in October 2023, four months ahead of schedule. Eight wells at Breidablikk have already been drilled and drilling of additional wells will continue at the field until the end of 2025.

On Tuesday, Norwegian oil and gas company Aker BP announced the start of oil production from the Tyrving development. Aker BP is also the operator of the Yggdrasil development, which is expected to start production in 2027.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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