Norway Wants to Trigger Competition in Gas Market

Norway’s new government pledges to raise competition in the energy market, explaining at the same time that “there has been reason to keep a vigilant eye” on the oil and gas major Statoil.

“We’ll keep doing that,” Energy Minister Tord Lien said in Oslo.

Norway is lead by a coalition government, formed last week by Prime Minister Erna Solberg’s Conservative Party and Lien’s Progress Party.

Børge Brende, former member of the board of directors in Statoil, was recently appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Erna Solberg’s won the elections expressing her intention to sell public stake in Statoil and promote changes in the energy market. Experts foresee that the country will pave the way to more competition in the national gas market. This would be part of a broader change of direction in national energy policies.