Resources worth 12.5 billion EUR in Lofoten
It is estimated that the areas surrounding the Lofoten and Vesterålen archipelago in Northern Norway contains oil and gas resources with a value between 10 and 15 billion EUR, a new reports reads.
However, the Norwegian fishing industry will fight hard to keep the petroleum industry away from the area.
The areas surrounding the Lofoten and Vesterålen archipelago is preserved from any petroleum activity, but the petroleum industry would like this preservation to be removed. Their demand will probably not be eased after the recently released estimates of the undeveloped values which can be found in these areas. The consulting firm Econ estimates the reserves in the area to be around two billion barrels of oil and gas, with a totalt value of 12-15 billion EUR, according to Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv. In their report ECON arguments that with such values present, the local environmental considerations must be weighty to stop the development.
The local coast fisher association says that this area should be the last to open for petroleum development. Their opinion is that Norway is extremely wealthy and invests their wealth in all kinds of useless things around the world, instead of conserving a renewable resource like the fish.
