* Norway to offer oil drilling permits in new areas
* Hopes to make large new discoveries
* Environmental campaigners oppose the plan
(Adds analyst comment)
By Nerijus Adomaitis and Terje Solsvik
OSLO, June 24 (Reuters) - Norway is planning a major
expansion of oil exploration in the Arctic, despite commitments
to tackling global warming and opposition from environmental
groups.
Minister of petroleum and energy Tina Bru said on Wednesday
the expansion was needed to protect jobs and generate wealth.
The government will auction up to 136 new oil exploration
blocks in a major licensing round, with 125 of those in the
Arctic Barents Sea, a relatively unspoiled corner of the planet.
"We need new discoveries to uphold employment and value
creation," Bru said in a statement.
Norway is western Europe's biggest oil producer and has
built the world's biggest sovereign wealth fund, worth over $1
trillion, on the back of its oil wealth.
It has signed up to the Paris agreement to tackle global
warming and, although not a member of the European Union, has
pledged to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in line with the
bloc. However, this does not cover emissions produced by fossil
fuels extracted from its territory and then used by others.
"This clearly shows the Norwegian government's actions are
not based on what is scientifically required to address the
climate crisis," Greenpeace's head in Norway, Frode Pleym, told
Reuters.
"Norway has failed to take the climate crisis seriously."
The licensing round, Norway's 25th, had been delayed by a
long-running debate over how far north the oil industry should
be allowed to drill, culminating in a compromise that left
significant room for more Arctic licences.
The new round could open eight regions of the Barents Sea
unavailable for exploration, each with a range of blocks, and
one region of the Norwegian Sea.
In recent years, some of the biggest international oil
firms, such as Shell, ExxonMobil and Total
, have stopped exploring for oil off Norway as most
finds have either been dry or too small for them.
"This is a special invitation to supermajors to return back
to the NCS (Norwegian Continental Shelf)," said Per Magnus
Nysveen, head of analysis at Oslo-based consultancy Rystad
Energy.
"The exploration potential of the Barents Sea is still huge,
despite a negative trend for the most recent exploration wells."
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by
Gwladys Fouche and Mark Potter)
