🇪🇺🛢 Europe is changing its attitude towards Arctic hydrocarbons Over the past couple of days, several notable events have taken place that define the West's new approach to the Arctic. The new draft EU Arctic Strategy, presented today, contains no mention of a moratorium on new oil and gas drilling in the Arctic, which points to a change in wording compared with the EU's 2021 position. Before: The EU is committed to ensuring that oil, coal and gas stay in the ground, including in Arctic regions. Now: no longer. The wording was the subject of intense discussions between the European Commission and Norway, which actively lobbied for the EU to drop its climate-driven opposition to oil and gas exploration in the Far North. Last year, the Scandinavian country issued five oil and gas exploration licences in the Barents Sea, part of the Arctic, and opened 38 blocks for applications in 2026. Last year Norway supplied almost a third of the EU's gas imports, including a small share from these fields. At the same time, ahead of the EU's Arctic presentation, Reuters published news on the Northern Sea Route: peak freight rates and instability on southern routes have made the Northern Sea Route (NSR) more attractive as an export corridor for Russian oil. The summer and autumn navigation season is not over yet, but one and a half times more oil has already been shipped than in the whole of last season. By the end of the navigation season, shipments could more than double, reaching 25 to 30 million barrels. And finally, the day before, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas gave an interview to the British newspaper The Times, in which she stated that the West "must stop Russia and China" in their drive for dominance in the Arctic. According to her, the EU must work with Canada and the US to prevent "full control by Russia and China" over the route and will seek unrestricted access to the Northern Sea Route. #info #resources #Norway #EU
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