OSLO -- Norway's oil industry has been salivating for years over the Arctic Lofoten islands, which could hold billions of barrels of crude.
The industry will likely have to keep dreaming.
The general election next month is unlikely to lift a deadlock that's keeping a ban on drilling off the environmentally sensitive archipelago as more and more Norwegians are turning their backs on the industry that helped make the country one of the world's richest.
"It's a dead issue," said Frank Aarebrot, a professor of political science at the University of Bergen.
Backed by unions and business, Norway's two biggest parties, Labor and the Conservatives, have long favored steps that could open up the area for exploration. But so far they have had to compromise with smaller parties that are determined to keep Lofoten oil-free.
That's because the area is a natural wonder. The waters off the rugged archipelago are home to the world's biggest cold-water coral reef and a breeding area for 70 percent of all fish caught in the Norwegian and Barents seas, according to the World Wildlife Fund. The islands also host mainland Europe's biggest seabird colony. Opponents of oil exploration argue a spill could cause catastrophic harm and that Norway will run afoul of the Paris climate agreement if it expands exploration.
Oil companies led by state-controlled Statoil, the biggest Norwegian producer, say gaining access is key if the country wants to maintain production of oil and gas, which is forecast to fall again from 2025 after already dropping 12 percent since a 2004 peak. While the government estimates Lofoten could hold about 1.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent, industry group Konkraft has said resources could top 3 billion barrels. If it's all crude rather than gas, that would represent at least $65 billion in sales value at current prices.
"We're dependent on making new discoveries to have new projects in that time frame," Statoil spokesman Bard Glad Pedersen said by phone. "That also underlines the urgency in an impact assessment for Lofoten and Vesteraalen."
The debate over Lofoten frames a wider discussion in Norway over what role Western Europe's biggest oil and gas producer, which started pumping crude in the 1970s, should take in the fight against climate change.
The question is also whether there will actually be a need for the area's untapped crude. As prices for renewable energy drop and oil producers from Exxon Mobil Corp. to OPEC raise their forecasts for electric car sales, major oil companies have started talking about crude demand peaking as early as next decade.
While both Prime Minister Erna Solberg and her rival from Labor, Jonas Gahr Store, say Norway needs to become less reliant on oil, they also maintain that petroleum production will continue to play a big part in the nation's economy for many years ahead. Production alone still accounts for about 12 percent of the economy, down from more than 20 percent before oil prices crashed in 2014, and the entire industry employs almost 200,000 workers -- about 3.8 percent of the country's population.
Ascendant opponents such as the Green Party, which is aiming to gain more seats in parliament next month, and environmental groups say Norway needs to start to phase out its oil industry, arguing that more production would be a breach to its commitments under the Paris climate accord. Greenpeace is suing the country to get it to stop exploring in the Barents Sea off Norway's northern tip.
In a sign that opponents of drilling are gaining traction, Labor in a "compromise" earlier this year said it would only seek to start an impact study in one of the three areas designated as potential oil blocks off Lofoten. But even such a small move is opposed by the Center Party and the Socialist Left Party, Labor's potential ruling partners after the Sept. 11 vote.
Business on 08/12/2017