By replacing Russia as the EU’s main supplier of natural gas, Norway’s “energy finance” makes the EU love and hate
Norway, located in northern Europe, is not a member of the European Union. Since the discovery of oil and gas resources in the North Sea in the 1960s, the Norwegian oil and gas industry has made great strides, becoming a major producer and exporter of energy in Europe. Today, in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Norway’s energy exports have soared and the EU has a love-hate relationship with Norway.
According to the US “Washington Post” report of 8, after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Norway replaced Russia as the EU’s main supplier of natural gas. In the same week that the Nord Stream pipeline was damaged, Norway even opened a new pipeline to supply gas to Poland. The Norwegian government budget released earlier this month shows that Norway’s oil and gas sector revenue is expected to reach US $ 113 billion this year, an almost five-fold increase from last year, and revenue Norway’s oil and gas sector will continue to grow next year, reaching approximately $ 131 billion.
The EU’s attitude towards Norwegian energy has always been mixed. Some time ago, under the influence of mainstream public opinion to address the climate change crisis, EU countries were quite critical of the Norwegian oil and gas industry development. But Norwegians disagree: Many Norwegians say Norway is vigorously developing alternative energy sources such as wind and solar energy and that oil and gas are being exported to other countries. Ironically, now in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the EU is more concerned about its security of energy supply and has a greater demand for fossil fuels in Norway. Even so, there is still a lot of criticism within the EU that Norway is making money from the war.
On the 6th of this month, French President Macron summoned Norway and the United States to a public event, which quite reflected the current mood of the European Union. Macron said: “In the spirit of great friendship, we would like to say to our Norwegian and American friends: ‘You are great, you supply us with power and gas, but we cannot continue paying four times the price. Now.’ This is not the meaning of friendship “.
Recently, the EU and Norway reached an agreement to cooperate to promote the stability of the energy market and “significantly reduce excessive energy prices”. However, the Norwegian side did not respond to the setting of energy price caps, which is of major concern to the EU. It is unclear how Norway will work with the EU to regulate energy prices. However, in recent months, some Norwegian lawmakers have called for the excess profits that the country’s oil industry is expected to make this year to be injected into the so-called “solidarity fund” for foreign aid and cooperation.
Source of the article: Global Times
