Oskar Grimstad, Progress Party member of Parliament’s Energy and Environment Committee, believes that the government should initiate action without delay considering the tense situation between Russia and Ukraine, reports Klassekampen.
A number of EU countries previously asked the United States to increase gas exports to Europe to secure supplies in case the U.S. and EU implement sanctions against Russia and in return Russia closes the gas taps.
– We should quickly have a discussion in the committee about different scenarios to come, and we must have clear action plans for different ways to increase gas exports, says Grimstad to the newspaper. He wants that Norway must be able to stand ready to help EU countries whose energy supply is threatened.
Høyre (Conservative Party) politician Nikolai Astrup, however, doubts that it can be done. Astrup is also skeptical about Russia really goes so far as to stop gas supplies. He also notes that Norway does not have sufficient gas resources that can replace Russian gas in the short term.
Norwegian gas export accounted for 23 percent of gas consumption in the EU in 2013, while Russian gas makes 27 percent of the consumption.Â
Fremskrittspartiet (The Progress Party) and  Høyre (Conservative Party) are the two coalition goverenment parties.
