- An incredibly naive Norwegian strategy
The oil and gas in the Barents Sea will be developed no matter what Norway decides, says Norwegian entrepreneur Johan Petter Barlindhaug. He describes the Norwegian strategy in the Barents Sea as “incredibly naive”.
Johan Petter Barlindhaug is one of the most experienced business developers in northern Norway. He is highly critical to the Norwegian approach to development of resources in the Arctic. On a recent conference in the Norwegian oil capitol, Stavanger, he said that it would be incredibly naive to think that the resources in the Barents Sea could be preserved with political decisions in Norway.
Barlindhaug means that the oil will be produced no matter what Norway decides. Today’s Norwegian strategy for the barents Sea will only cause that other countries take charge of the oil and gas exploration here, Norwegian finance newspaper Dagens Næringsliv reports.
Stein Lier Hansen in the Norwegian pressure group, Norsk Industri, said at the same conference that the Russians have already started the exploration, and they will not back down now. Hansen is afraid that if only Russian technology is used, the development of the Arctic areas will be of a kind that doesn’t serve the interests of Norway and the rest of the world.
Barlindhaug said that Norwegians must stop discussing oil and gas exploration as a question of whether yes or no, but look at adjusted solutions for each area. The area is too large to evaluate as one, he argumented.
