- Norway Energy Minister Terje Aasland said Norway seeks to strengthen its partnership with Indonesia and explore investment opportunities in renewable energy.
- Aasland said Norwegian companies can contribute their experience in Indonesia’s hydropower and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
Norway Energy Minister Terje Aasland said Norway seeks to form a stronger partnership with Indonesia and explore investment opportunities in renewable energy, such as hydropower and carbon capture and storage.
“A lot of opportunities are there, and there are some hurdles, but I hope we can build a stronger partnership in years to come,” Energy Minister Terje Aasland said after meeting his counterpart Arifin Tasrif in Jakarta earlier this week.
While Norway aims to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, it also continues exploring and developing new oil and gas fields, including in the Arctic’s Barents Sea, to maintain output expected to peak in 2025.
The country became Europe’s largest natural gas supplier after a sharp reduction in Russian deliveries since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022.
Aasland said Norwegian companies can contribute their experience in hydropower and carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Indonesia to reduce the country’s emissions.
He said that storage capacity at Norway‘s first CCS project, Northern Lights, will be ready this year and will start capturing carbon dioxide from a cement plant in Brevik next May.
“Today, we depend on Russia and China, so we have to diversify the value chain for minerals in the coming years, and we are looking into how we can develop the activity in the Norwegian Continental Shelf sustainably,” Aasland added.
Aasland met representatives from Norwegian firms in Singapore on 4 July, including Equinor, DNB, and Yarra. These firms are investing in renewables, energy storage, and alternative fuels such as ammonia in Asia Pacific.
Norway, which is Western Europe’s largest oil and gas producer, generates a total output of just over 4 million barrels of oil equivalents per day (boepd).
Norwegian gas supplies to Europe are expected to reach 120 billion cubic metres (bcm) this year, Aasland said, up from 109 bcm in 2023.
“Oil and gas will also play a crucial role in the coming decades because of the need for energy security and affordable prices,” Aasland said, adding that the country needs to secure a supply chain for the green transition.