Norway and its gas producers are willing to negotiate with the European Union in order to resolve the continent’s energy crisis.
(Bloomberg) —
Norway and its gas producers are willing to negotiate with the European Union in order to resolve the continent’s energy crisis.
“We are not closing any doors for any kind of dialogue or contact,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store told reporters in Oslo Thursday. “It’s not in Norway’s interest that we have extraordinary gas price hikes. We are ready to listen to the companies and see whatever role we can play.”
Norway and the EU have initiated a task force to develop ways to manage Europe’s natural gas shortage. Store met this morning with executives from his country’s largest oil and gas producers including Equinor ASA, Aker BP ASA and Var Energi ASA.
“What the companies are most concerned about is this question of long-term contracts and how to handle them in a good way,” Energy Minister Terje Aasland said at the same event. “The question becomes one of guarantees and risk management to handle the risk that is in the market.”
Oyvind Eriksen, chief executive officer of Aker ASA, the parent company of Aker BP, said that the company is open to longer term contracts with the right counter-parties.
“At today’s price levels there’s too much risk for most private companies,” Eriksen said. “So it’s partly a question of the price mechanism and partly a question of how the state and companies can work together to solve this very, very serious situation.”
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Equinor Chief Financial Officer Ulrica Fearn urged political leaders to not turn away from the free market forever. Short-term actions “will have an impact on that market and it’s very, very hard to judge what the secondary consequences are.”
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