London (Platts)--23Nov2012/115 pm EST/1815 GMT
Norway's oil minister Ola Borten Moe said Friday the Norwegian government would not be opening up the Lofoten and Vesteralen areas offshore Norway to oil exploration yet, despite his belief that such exploration would be safe, newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv reported. The paper quoted an interview Borten Moe gave to the national Norwegian broadcaster NRK after a number of reports on the subject were issued. The oil industry believes there are potentially massive deposits of oil and gas in the Arctic waters, but these are key fishing grounds that have attracted fierce resistance from the fishermen and the environmentalists. "I think it is completely safe to open up for oil exploration in the northeastern Barents Sea," Borten Moe told NRK. But he added that he still recommends not opening up now. Borten Moe said he wants a gradual approach under which the oil and gas industry first uses areas already opened up south of Lofoten.--Patrick McLoughlin, newsdesk@platts.com--Edited by Alisdair Bowles, alisdair_bowles@platts.com