Energy market in Norway

Following the Ukraine crisis, Norway became Europe’s largest exporter of natural gas. The country is keeping up high gas production while giving its stamp of approval for many new oil and gas development projects to boost its hydrocarbon reserves.

Embracing the energy transition to low-carbon and green sources, Norway has taken multiple steps to decarbonize its oil and gas industry by pursuing carbon capture and storage (CCS), electrification of oil and gas assets, low carbon hydrogen production along with renewable energy such as offshore wind.

Norwegian oil and gas production has one of the lowest carbon footprints globally.

Key opportunities for Canadian energy companies in Norway:

• Norway is investing heavily in decarbonization efforts
• Extremely high activity on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (oil and gas, offshore wind, CO2 storage and hydrogen for export)
• Norwegian CO2 emissions from industrial point sources provides many options for CCS projects, especially in the 50 to 500,000 ton range
• Offshore Technology Days (OTD) Energy – October 2023
• Offshore Northern Seas – August 2024

Notable challenges for Canadian energy companies in Norway

• Norway is a world leader in the offshore sector with high levels of skills and competence-  it can be difficult to break into the market
• Networking and trust-building is essential for success in Norway

Norway business landscape

• Norway has strong public finance with stable political and legal systems. Easy to do business
• Norway is not part of the European Union (EU) but it closely aligns with its trade policy

Upcoming projects and events

Summary

Norway has ambitious climate targets that involve more than halving emissions by 2030 compared with 1990 levels, with a further reduction down to net zero by 2050. A large part of Norway’s energy use already has low carbon intensity owing to its hydropower-dominated electricity system (97%).

It is therefore the emissions from hard-to-abate sectors like heavy industry, heavy transport, oil and gas production, and agriculture that will need to be targeted for decarbonization if Norway is to reach its ambitious climate targets.

This means that there is a growing market for equipment and technology providers in these sectors.  The like-mindedness between Canada and Norway can provide fruitful cooperation from RDD&D (Research, development, demonstration & deployment) to commercial scale projects.

For more information on energy in the Norwegian market please contact Tone.Nymoen@international.gc.ca