The role of the Norwegian Continental Shelf in the future energy system depends on the national and international business regulations, societal acceptance and license to operate.
The targets of this work package are to:
- Address the competitiveness of the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) in national and international contexts.
- Contribute to sound climate mitigation policies.
- Understand and explain the risk and uncertainty of investments related to WP1-WP5.
Research questions:
- Does the Norwegian tax and subsidy system ensure the right balance between investment in profitable projects and allowing the petroleum sector as a vehicle for green industries vs avoiding stranded assets and expensive pilot projects?
- What are the viable measures to curb emissions on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, e.g., production taxes and electrification?
- What are the effects of increasing risk premiums, political scrutiny and competition in the petroleum sector and how to improve handling and communication of uncertainty in businesses and policymaking?
These projects have been defined:
Many observers expect that climate policies and alternative energy sources will put down-wards pressure on the demand for fossil fuels in the coming decades. This may have important consequences for the oil sector and the oil market as we know them. First, the appetite for investments in hydrocarbon exploration and production may decline. This may result in higher risk premiums in the financial markets to finance such investments and fiercer competition from other oil producing countries to attract the remaining investments.
The oil and gas sector may be a vehicle of transition towards new technologies. For example, there may be important complementarities between oil and gas and new technologies, such as CCS and Hydrogen. Cash flow from oil and gas may also be important to fund potentially risky new energy investments.
