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Norway Reportedly Calls on Supreme Court to Overturn Ruling Against Oilfields

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The government of Norway will ask its supreme court on Monday to overturn a ruling by a lower court that invalidated exploration permits over a lack of consideration of environmental impacts, according to media reports on Monday.

Two courts have backed a case brought by Greenpeace and Young Friends of the Earth first brought in 2023, deeming that Norway had not fully assessed the impact of three oil fields, namely Equinor's (EQNR) Breidablikk, already producing, and Aker and BP (BP) joint venture Aker BP's Tyrving and Yggdrasil fields, not yet online, Reuters reported.

Campaigners say the government did not consider the climate impact of burning the oil and gas from the fields, referred to as Scope 3 emissions and that its efforts to do so later were not valid. Production has been allowed to continue while the case continues, Reuters said.

Norwegian legal affairs website Rett 24 said the case centers around whether the granting of permits should take into account the impact of the burning of the fossil fuels on the climate, regardless of where this takes place.

The supreme court case is expected to last about four days with a verdict to be announced later in the year.

has contacted Norway's energy ministry to seek comment and further details on the case.

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