Norway, which has become Europe’s leading supplier of natural gas in place of Russia, is “sceptical” about a gas price cap advocated by a majority of EU member countries, its Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said on Monday.
“We agree to have an even closer dialogue with the EU in the future regarding the different proposals that are on the table,” Støre said in a statement, released after a telephone conversation with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“We are approaching the discussions with an open mind but we are skeptical of a maximum price for gas,” he added. “A maximum price will not change the fundamental problem, which is that there is too little gas in Europe.
Meeting on Friday in Brussels, the European energy ministers said they were in favor of a series of emergency measures to curb soaring gas and electricity bills, some even mentioning a cap on the price of gas imports into the EU.
While the European Commission has proposed a cap on the price of gas from Russia, several countries, including Italy, are advocating a complete cap on the price of gas purchased by the EU, including liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Norway, which has benefited greatly from the price surge exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has so far been discreet on the issue of a price cap, passing the buck to the oil companies responsible for negotiating contracts.
The Scandinavian country recently overtook Russia as the leading supplier of gas to Europe thanks to an 8% increase in its own deliveries and, above all, to the fall in Russian deliveries.
