A weekend of hefty internal debate among delegates to the ruling Labor Party’s national congress in Oslo ended with a majority going along with the party leadership’s plans to actively consider oil exploration and drilling off Lofoten, Vesterålen and Senja. 194 delegates voted for the impact study, 104 against, NRK reports.
The decision to proceed with a formal study of the consequences of oil drilling off Lofoten is expected to ultimately open up the area but it will take another vote in 2015 before actual drilling can begin.
With the Labor Party’s support, Norway’s top three parties now favor exploration in the area, raising the chance that the next government would begin the process.
Results of the seismic data collected from the waters outside Lofoten, Vesterålen and Senja some few years ago shows there could be as much as 1.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent in the area. Net value is estimated at about NOK 500 billion (€60 billion), as previously reported by BarentsObserver.
The waters around the Lofoten islands are also the spawning ground of the largest cod population in the world. Norway in 2006 adopted its management plan for the Barents Sea and the Lofoten waters. The plan opened up for exploration in parts of the Barents Sea, but banned drilling in the vulnerable Lofoten area.
In February, the program committee in the Labor party made a turnaround and announced support to carry out an impact assessment study of the vulnerable waters outside Lofoten, Vesterålen and Senja. These are some of the last waters along Norway’s coastline that has not yet been opened for oil drilling.
