Today (28 June 2021), the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, and the Norwegian Energy Minister, Tina Bru, held their first in-person meeting in Oslo.
The ministers issued a joint statement affirming the importance of the bilateral energy relationship, as both countries seek to build back better from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and tackle climate change.
Joint statement
Energy is at the core of the close relationship between the United Kingdom and Norway. We are now embarking on a fresh, exciting chapter, establishing a new phase of cross-border energy cooperation.
We are celebrating the completion this month of the construction of the North Sea Link interconnector, which joins together our nations' world-class electricity grids for the first time. Trading over the interconnector is scheduled to start later this year.
We are also announcing that the UK and Norway are close to concluding a historic bilateral treaty on electricity interconnection, which will set out our shared principles for maximising the mutual benefits of efficient electricity trading. The treaty will also set out commitments to co-operate on electricity infrastructure between our countries, including further interconnection and infrastructure which combines cross-border transmission with offshore wind generation in the North Sea, where we have significant mutual interests.
This is an important milestone for both our countries and an achievement that will spur on the North Sea's pioneering progress in reducing carbon emissions, all while helping us to build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today's commitment builds on what is already a transformative partnership between our two countries, making use of the extraordinary expertise we hold within the clean energy revolution to help fight climate change and create new business opportunities.
This includes the development of carbon capture and storage - underpinned by our bilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in November 2018, the development of hydrogen technologies, and the opening up of our seas to unleash what is a ground-breaking new era of offshore wind power.
We have had extensive cooperation in the oil and gas sector. The UK is a key market for Norwegian gas exports. Norway provides around one-third of UK gas supply, which has played an important role in energy decarbonisation as the UK transitions away from coal.
Looking forward, we are committed to working together on further innovative opportunities to support our economies' transition to clean, green energy as part of delivering our commitments under the Paris Agreement.
