PM praises UK-Norway energy link-up

Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and David Cameron in Oslo
7 June 2012

A new energy partnership between the United Kingdom and Norway will help create more than 1,600 jobs and could secure affordable power supplies for decades.

Prime Minister David Cameron and his Norwegian counterpart Jens Stoltenberg will formally announce the agreement in Oslo at a meeting with leading energy firms from both sides of the North Sea.

The deal is set to unlock investment worth tens of billions of pounds by energy firms in the UK, including the creation of 1,300 new jobs in Chiswick, West London.

The partnership with Norway will focus on affordable long-term gas supply as well as two-way investment in oil and gas exploration and the development of renewable technologies.

The Prime Minister described the delivery of sustainable energy supplies to meet ever-growing demand as "one of the most important challenges" the two nations face.

"Affordable, secure energy from trusted and reliable partners is critical to this," said Mr Cameron. "And there is no stronger energy partnership than between Britain and Norway."

In the past five years, British companies have invested £13 billion in Norwegian oil and gas while Norway now meets more than a quarter of the UK's entire energy needs, said Mr Cameron.

Norwegian companies are major investors not only in oil and gas but also in the £30 billion Dogger Bank offshore wind project, which is slated to provide more than a tenth of the UK's electricity.

The new deal will "take this vital relationship to the next level", Mr Cameron said.

"This will mean more collaboration on affordable long-term gas supply, more reciprocal investment in oil and gas and renewables, and - underpinning all of this - a set of major new business deals creating thousands of new jobs and adding billions to our economies."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in