Norway is looking to form a stronger partnership with Indonesia and explore investment opportunities in renewable energy such as hydropower and carbon capture and storage (CCS), according to Energy Minister Terje Aasland.
“There are many opportunities and some obstacles, but I hope we can build a stronger partnership in the years to come,” Energy Minister Terje Aasland told Reuters on Thursday after meeting his counterpart Arifin Tasrif in Jakarta earlier this week.
Norwegian companies can bring their experience in hydropower and carbon capture and storage (CCS) to Indonesia to reduce emissions in the country, Aasland said.
Storage capacity at Norway’s first CCS project, Northern Lights, will be ready this year and is on track to start capturing carbon dioxide from a cement plant in Brevik next May, he said.
Aasland met in Singapore on Thursday with representatives of Norwegian companies including Equinor, DNB and Yarra, which are investing in renewable energy, energy storage and alternative fuels such as ammonia in Asia-Pacific.
As Norway aims to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, it also continues to explore and develop new oil and gas fields, including in the Barents Sea in the Arctic, to maintain production that is expected to peak in 2025.
Norway, which is the largest oil and gas producer in Western Europe, generates a total production of just over 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d).
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 due to the need for energy security and affordability,” Aasland said, adding that the country needs to secure the supply chain for the green transition.
Norway wants to grant permits next year for mining in the Arctic seabed, hoping to extract minerals needed to make solar panels, wind turbines and electric car batteries. The move is needed to replace fossil fuels, but it faces opposition from environmental groups and some European countries.
“Today we are dependent on Russia and China, so we need to diversify the mineral value chain in the coming years and we are looking at how we can develop the business on the Norwegian continental shelf in a sustainable way,” Aasland added.
