Speaking at a lunch debate co-organised by think tank Friends of Europe and StatoilHydro last Friday, Mr Piebalgs said that “you cannot say [the Arctic] is a sanctuary”
“… otherwise, where will we get our energy from?” the commissioner added, EUobserver.com reports.
“Europe’s energy security means it must continue to look for shorter-term solutions in regions like the Caspian and Middle East, but it must also make strategic decisions about the Arctic, which some geological estimates suggest could contain up to 22 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and natural gas reserves, Friends of Europe reports on its website.
The growing openness in Brussels over Arctic energy extraction is music in the ears of Norway’s energy major StatoilHydro, a company which is eager to take oil and gas production “all the way to the North Pole”.
In his address at the debate company leader Helge Lund said that “Europe has no choice” but to look to the Arctic, EUobserver reports.
