Norway should aim to make its oil industry completely emissions-free, the leader of the country’s biggest opposition party stated. The proposal comes to add to the already established Norwegian ambition to reduce the emissions of it oil, its biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, despite the fact that more offshore platforms are getting power from shore instead of burning gas for electricity.
Namely, Labor leader Jonas Gahr Store highlighted during the party’s congress in Oslo, that authorities and the industry must set a deadline to make the Norwegian oil industry fully emissions-free.
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This proposal comes at a time where the party’s commitment to the oil industry is being questioned, Bloomberg reports. What is more, the congress could also vote to stop the party’s support for oil activity off the Lofoten islands, something that if it happens, it could hamper the industry’s hopes to explore this area.
However, the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association noted that Norway has already produced petroleum with emissions per unit of less than half of the global average. It also added that the Labor’s proposal was a ‘very demanding ambition.’ Nonetheless, Karl Eirik Schjott-Pedersen, the association’s director general, said that it would be happy to talk with relevant authorities and come up with a plan to reduce emissions even more.
During 2017, oil and gas production amounted for 14.7 million tons of CO2 equivalents in GHG emissions, 28% of Norway’s total. Those numbers only include emissions that were generated in the production phase, and not the fuels’ end use.
