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Norway court puts restriction on 2 Aker BP oilfield projects on hold

A Norwegian appeals court has put on hold an injunction that could have stopped the development of 2 oilfields operated by Aker BP, in a win for the government and energy companies.

Greenpeace and others had sued the Norwegian government to prevent the development of new oil and gas resources, in the most current legal disagreement linked to international climate change.

In January, the Oslo District Court handed a surprise triumph to ecologists by invalidating the approvals of two offshore jobs, Yggdrasil and Tyrving, in addition to Equinor's Breidablikk, citing an insufficient evaluation of their environmental impact by authorities.

The lower court also imposed a short-term injunction for releasing any brand-new authorizations needed to continue development of the 2 tasks run by Aker BP.

The court of appeals has stopped the enforcement of the restriction to release the brand-new authorizations till its composed elaborations, Greenpeace Norway head Frode Pleym informed on Thursday.

Aker BP said development of the two tasks would continue as planned for the time being in accordance with authorizations it had received or would receive.

The appeals court will hold an emergency situation hearing on the restriction in April, while a date for a hearing on the primary question of whether the fields were lawfully approved has actually not yet been set.

Greenpeace said it hoped the federal government would not rush to approve the permits up until the court rules on the injunction.

Norway's energy ministry stated it would comply with the appeals court judgment, including a provision that it must follow typical decision-making procedures.

Greenpeace and its partner Nature and Youth, which brought the case, argued that the federal government failed to consider the impact of oil and gas produced from the three new advancements on the global climate.

They cited a 2022 ruling of Norway's Supreme Court which said future projects need to examine the impact of anticipated petroleum use, not only from its production phase.

(source: Reuters)