A Norwegian appeals court upheld a lower court ruling on Friday (November 14), siding with environmentalists to dismiss the government’s lawsuit and invalidating the Norwegian Ministry of Energy’s approval for the development of three offshore oil fields.
However, the court also stated that production at the relevant oil field would not cease, adding that the government would have a six-month grace period to rectify any irregularities or deficiencies in its initial licensing approval process.
In a statement, the Bogatin Court emphasized: “The Court of Appeal holds that the climate impacts of combustion emissions have neither been adequately investigated nor adequately assessed.”
The lawsuit was filed in November 2023 by environmental organizations “Greenpeace Norway” and “Young Friends of the Earth Norway”, alleging that relevant parties had failed to adequately assess the impact of future oil extraction on the global climate. It is reported that in January 2024, the Oslo District Court ruled in favor of the environmental groups, halting the advancement of these development plans.
The three oil fields involved are Equinor’s Breidablikk field and Aker BP’s Tyrving and Yggdrasil fields. The combined reserves of the three fields are estimated at approximately 875 million barrels of oil equivalent. Breidablikk and Tyrving are already in production, while Yggdrasil—Norway’s largest offshore oil project since 2019—is scheduled to commence operations in 2027.