By Chris Jones - 13th September 2006
EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs meets Norway’s energy minister Odd Roger Enoksen on Friday for a rescheduled annual ‘energy dialogue’ meeting.
Enoksen’s domestic schedule forced him to postpone an earlier meeting, scheduled for August 31.
The two officials will discuss a wide range of topics, including relations with Russia, the EU’s new strategy for sustainable energy supplies and ways of strengthening cooperation between the two regions in the energy field.
Norway is part of the EU internal energy market through its membership of the European Economic Area (with Liechtenstein and Iceland), meaning the dialogue is likely to a far more positive than recent talks with Middle Eastern oil producers, which were marred by complaints about spiralling prices.
Traditional concerns about long-term supplies, which tend to dominate talks with OPEC, are of little relevance in talks with Norway, which makes its supplies public.
And with most of the fuel supplied to the EU on long-term contracts, price is also of only minor interest.
As a result, Piebalgs and Enoksen are likely to concentrate on ways to coordinate efforts to improve oil and gas exploration and exploitation – Norway already benefits from EU research funding via its EEA membership – and on energy efficiency and climate change.
Brussels is also keen to take advantage of Norway’s growing international presence to boost opportunities for EU oil and gas companies.
“Norwegian energy companies are everywhere, even in the smallest and most remote parts of the world, and we would like to be able to take advantage of this global presence to bring EU know-how to energy suppliers wherever they are,” a commission official said.
Norway sells all its gas to the EU, and accounts for 15 per cent of total EU gas consumption, with Germany, France and the UK its biggest markets.
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