EurOil: Norwegian court lifts ban on Aker BP field developments

A Norwegian appeals court has put on hold an injunction that would have halted the development of two oilfields, environmental group Greenpeace confirmed on March 21, in a victory for the government and the projects’ operator Aker BP.

The Oslo district court in January invalidated the government’s approval of development plans for the two fields and another operated by Equinor, concluding that authorities had failed to consider the impact of the future use of extracted hydrocarbons on global climate change as a result of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) that would be emitted. This followed the filing of a lawsuit by Greenpeace and another campaign group Nature and Youth.

The ruling was a surprise, and raised concerns in the oil and gas industry that it might become a precedent where environmental groups, having failed to convince governments to scale back fossil fuel development, might be able to block or at least delay key projects in the courts.

The lower court had also introduced a temporary injunction for issuing any new permits needed to continue with development of the projects.

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