EU and Norway agree to further strengthen their energy cooperation

Yesterday, Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans, Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson and Norway’s Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Terje Aasland agreed to further strengthen the close cooperation between the EU and Norway in the field of energy, with a view to deepen their long-term energy partnership. In a joint statement, they stressed the strong relationship between the EU and Norway, acknowledging the urgency to increase energy independence and to work towards reducing energy prices in the Union and in Norway, while cutting our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and improving Europe’s resilience to the negative consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and of climate change. This agreement will step up cooperation to ensure additional short-term and long-term gas supplies from Norway, to address the issue of high energy prices, and to develop long-term cooperation on offshore renewable energy, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, and energy research and development with a view to developing an even deeper long-term energy partnership. Norway has been a reliable, safe and prudent supplier of oil and gas to Europe over the last 50 years from fields all over the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Together with Norway, which is part of the internal market through the EEA agreement, there is a continuous exchange through the existing EU-Norway Energy Dialogue.