Oil lobby presses EU to lift Arctic drilling restrictions amid energy security push

Oil and gas producers including Norway’s Equinor, alongside a lobby group backed by Shell, TotalEnergies and ConocoPhillips, have thrown their weight behind calls to lift the European Union’s de facto ban on future Arctic drilling.

More than a dozen companies and industry bodies, responding to an EU consultation on Arctic policy, invoked energy security arguments and stressed the need to maintain access to hydrocarbons.

Norway-based KonKraft said “there can be no European energy security without Arctic energy,” echoing the positions of Offshore Norge and the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise.

According to InfluenceMap, which tracks global corporate lobbying on climate policy, the push reflects a “concerning pressure to expand oil and gas development” that risks undermining decades of work to combat climate change.

The EU committed in 2021, as part of its Arctic strategy, to work towards an international moratorium on oil and gas drilling. It is now reviewing that strategy, which had been finalised before the war in Ukraine.

Ella Westlake, an analyst at InfluenceMap, said the industry was attempting to “exploit geopolitical instability by repeating misleading arguments that prioritise fossil fuels over renewable energy.”

She added that the pressure conflicts with the EU’s international commitments both to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to protect biodiversity.

The Arctic is believed to contain substantial undiscovered oil and gas reserves, but drilling carries significant costs and environmental risks, including climate impacts and ecosystem loss.

An EU official familiar with the policy discussions told the Financial Times that the proposals remain at an “embryonic stage” and that the review would cover not only energy and environmental concerns but also Arctic defence considerations. The aim is to conclude discussions ahead of an EU-Arctic forum in September.

Nareg Terzian, Europe strategy head at the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers, whose members include Shell, TotalEnergies and ConocoPhillips, said a ban would “send the wrong signal at the worst possible time.”

“Restricting production in regions such as northern Norway will not reduce demand, but risks increasing reliance on supplies with higher emissions intensity,” Terzian said.

Nick Walker, chief executive of Vår Energi, one of Norway’s largest gas exporters, said the country remains a predictable energy supplier for Europe “at a time when energy security carries significant strategic and geopolitical weight.”

Walker noted that one-third of the gas consumed in the EU comes from Norway, with roughly one-third of that output produced in Arctic and sub-Arctic waters, including the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea.

In its submission to the EU, Vår Energi called for a clearer definition of the Arctic, arguing that the Barents Sea region remains ice-free year-round.

The UK’s Labour government has also come under pressure to reverse its ban on new oil and gas licences in the North Sea following the escalation of the Iran conflict across the Middle East.

In the US, under the Trump administration, authorities this month held auctions for drilling rights in Alaska’s Arctic National Petroleum Reserve, announcing bids totalling $163 million.