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OIL

Norway’s Aker moves deeper into UK market

Norwegian oil and gas technology company Aker Solutions has won a 2.7 billion kroner ($4.5 billion) contract to supply one of the biggest subsea projects underway in the United Kingdom, the company's most important foreign market.

Norway's Aker moves deeper into UK market
Thor Arne Håverstad of Aker Solutions. File photo: Fredrik Varfjell/NTB

"This is the single-largest subsea contract that we've won in the UK," Alan Brunnen, head of Aker Solutions' subsea business, said in a statement on Monday.

"It further consolidates our position in the UK, which is our biggest hub outside of Norway."

The Norwegian company said it was gearing up for a 2014 delivery of 25 subsea trees and six template manifolds, along with associated controls, wellheads and tie-in equipment.

"The order includes subsea technologies that are new to the UK market," Aker Solutions elaborated, while declining to name its British client.

The company employs approximately 28,000 people in more than 30 countries. 

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OIL

NGOs take Norway to European Court over Arctic oil exploration

Two NGOs and six young climate activists have decided to take Norway to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to demand the cancellation of oil permits in the Arctic, Greenpeace announced on Tuesday.

NGOs take Norway to European Court over Arctic oil exploration
Northern Norway. Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash.

It’s the latest turn in a legal tussle between environmental organisations Greenpeace and Young Friends of the Earth Norway on one side and the Norwegian state on the other.

The organisations are demanding the government cancel 10 oil exploration licenses in the Barents Sea awarded in 2016, arguing it was unconstitutional.

Referring to the Paris Agreement, which seeks to limit global warming to less than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the organisations claim that the oil licenses violated article 112 of Norway’s constitution, guaranteeing everyone the right to a healthy environment.”

The six activists, alongside Greenpeace Nordic and Young Friends of the Earth Norway, hope that the European Court of Human Rights will hear their case and find that Norway’s oil expansion is in breach of human rights,” Greenpeace said in a statement.

In December, Norway’s Supreme Court rejected the claim brought by the organisations, their third successive legal defeat.

READ MORE: Norway sees oil in its future despite IEA’s warnings 

While most of the judges on the court agreed that article 112 could be invoked if the state failed to meet its climate and environmental obligations– they did not think it was applicable in this case.

The court also held that the granting of oil permits was not contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights, in part because they did not represent “a real and immediate risk” to life and physical integrity.

“The young activists and the environmental organisations argue that this judgment was flawed, as it discounted the significance of their environmental constitutional rights and did not take into account an accurate assessment of the consequences of climate change for the coming generations,” Greenpeace said.

On Friday, the Norwegian government unveiled a white paper on the country’s energy future, which still includes oil exploration despite a warning from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The IEA recently warned that all future fossil fuel projects must be scrapped if the world is to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The Norwegian case is an example of a global trend in which climate activists are increasingly turning to courts to pursue their agenda.

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