In order to secure supply for the EU member states, Maros Sefcovic, vice president of the European Commission, will travel to Norway to meet with Anders Opedal, the CEO of the massive energy company Equinor. Since the Norwegian government owns 67% of Equinor, Terje Aasland, the minister of petroleum and energy, and Jan Vestre, the state secretary, will also be present at the meeting. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Norway has emerged as Europe’s top gas supplier: by increasing production to meet demand, Equinor was able to surpass 2 million barrels of oil and gas equivalent per day in 2022. That year, it also posted a record $75 billion adjusted operating profit and $131 billion in revenues (triple of 2021). Opedal has already committed to supplying European nations with a minimum of 40 billion cubic meters of gas annually, through the year 2030. In order to discover new resources and replace depleting fields, Equinor has already planned to drill 25 exploratory wells in the Norwegian North Sea this year. In 2023, a further 3% increase in production is anticipated: anyway, it will be difficult to replace Russia’s 150 billion cubic meters of gas, and from 2026 to 2027 European countries will also start to depend more heavily on additional supplies from the US and Qatar. Sefcovic’s video conference with the prospective suppliers, to whom Brussels intends to turn for joint gas purchases beginning with an aggregate demand of 17 billion cubic meters for the years 2023–25, came before the EU mission to Norway, whose objective is to publish the aggregate demand of gas to attract supply offers in early spring, so that the first joint purchases will follow well before the summer. It is mandatory to cover 15% of the gas storage capacity (a volume of 30.5 billion cubic metres) through the joint purchases: the average filling of European storages is currently 58.5%.
