– It’s completely meaningless – E24

The Bellona-Hauge demands appear in a letter to Prime Minister Erna Solberg (H), with a copy to the Ministry of Oil and Energy and the Storting Oil and Energy Committee.

This summer, a majority in the Storting called on the government to come up with a proposal to ensure oil from the Johan Castberg field makes landfall at a terminal in Veidnes near Hammerfest, in connection with the crisis package for the oil industry.

The Castberg field has changed a lot from the time it was planned ground to ground. The field is now being expanded with a floating production vessel (FPSO), with its own warehouse at sea. That is why Hauge is furious about the wishes of the parliamentary majority.

“Bellona believes that this must be the most insignificant oil policy decision of all time,” Hauge wrote in the letter to the prime minister.

“Bellona requests that the Prime Minister and the government warn in the state budget this year that they are putting their foot in this type of populist oil campaigns of the Labor Party and the Center Party that have no technical or economic reality,” he adds.

Criticizes the Labor Party in particular

He criticizes the Labor Party in particular for pushing for a decision in the Storting that will increase the costs of Johan Castberg’s project by NOK 2-3 billion, if the terminal is built.

A terminal will likely provide around 40 ground jobs, according to Hauge.

– It does not make any sense. It’s just a waste. Just as easily, he could have given the 40 employees $ 3 million in interest income for the rest of their lives. It has no practical purpose, Bellona’s leader tells E24.

Hauge notes that the transportation of oil from the Johan Castberg field to an oil terminal and storage tanks in Veidnes is unnecessary. The floating production unit (FPSO) in the field has a storage capacity of 160,000 tonnes of oil, which it can load directly onto ships for shipment to Europe.

Therefore, it is not necessary to first transport the oil by ship to shore to store it there for a few days, before it still needs to be transported to Europe by ship, Hauge says. He believes it results in higher costs and an increased risk of oil spills, with more operations and more supertankers closer to shore.

– The worst we have seen of populism

– I would say it is one of the worst populism we have seen in Norwegian politics. And the Labor Party and Jonas Gahr Støre are responsible for that. We beg Erna to stop this madness and show state leadership, Hauge says.

– The objective is the domino effect on the ground?

– Yes, it will provide 40 jobs. But then workers can easily move a stone from one side of the parking lot to the other and earn a million a year salary for the rest of their lives. It would be equally significant, he says.

– There are no technical or financial reasons to expand Veidnes. There is only something left of the previous development solution, says the Bellona leader.

Will still have the terminal

Storting representative Runar Sjåstad (Labor Party) from Finnmark argues that the Veidnes terminal should be built. The party has been doing this ever since the then Statoil arrived in Finnmark in 2013 by private jet, bounced champagne and promised an oil terminal.

– The Labor Party wants to develop community resources in a sustainable way that has a local and regional ripple effect, writes Sjåstad in an email to E24.

– The landing of oil from the Johan Castberg field has been a declared demand of the Finnmark Labor Party at all times, with the support of the party’s core team, he says.

Sjåstad believes that Equinor should have handled the case in a better way when the company developed the Johan Castberg field.

– Equinor has opted for a different solution than what was wanted and required of Finnmark. The demand for oil landing at a terminal in Veidnes has always been politically well established with the support of residents and the union movement, he says.

– Later, Equinor abandoned its own promises and chose other solutions.

I register Bellona’s proposal with the support of Equinor, he says.

When asked about Bellona’s argument that it makes no sense to transport the oil ashore with the development solution that has been chosen, Sjåstad points out that Equinor has put itself in such a position.

– I still believe that oil must be landed, writes the parliamentary representative.

Several possible fields

Hauge acknowledges that a terminal in Veidnes will give the partners behind the Castberg field more flexibility than transporting the oil to Europe. The field is operated by Equinor, with Vår Energi and Petoro as partners.

With onshore stocks, oil can be transported with larger supertankers to the world market. Hauge still believes this is completely marginal, financially speaking.

In theory, other discoveries can also be made in the Barents Sea that make a terminal at Veidnes useful, by allowing pipelines to be laid ashore. But so far, exploration campaigns in the maritime zone have yielded very mixed results.

Of the existing discoveries, Hauge believes that neither the Wisting nor Alta / Gotha discovery will be financially sustainable. If, however, they are expanded, the Bellona leader believes that production ships will also be chosen there and not pipelines on land.

Therefore, he believes that it is unlikely that any of these fields will need a ground facility at Veidnes.

“Wisting is also planned to be built as a FPSO with a large oil storage tank and does not need to send the oil through Veidnes. Alta / Gotha has not yet chosen a concept, but an FPSO solution is also relevant here, possibly with an export solution for the oil via Castberg, ”Hauge writes in the letter to Erna Solberg.