Norway responds to Poland’s request to share profits from oil and gas

Oslo declares the people Norway and the country’s economy is also suffering from high oil and gas prices – RT reported.

Earlier, on May 21, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused Norway of making “illegal” profits from oil and gas thanks to the Ukraine conflict. Mr. Morawiecki announced that Norway will earn an additional 100 billion euros ($106.9 billion) from energy sales this year due to oil and gas prices. gas price spike due to the conflict in Ukraine and international sanctions against Russia.

“They should share in these excess profits. That’s not normal, it’s unfair, indirectly from the war started by Russia,” Prime Minister Morawiecki emphasized, adding that Oslo does not necessarily send its money to Poland but to Ukraine.

Mr. Morawiecki also called on young Poles to stand up and shame their Norwegian “friends” over gas profits in order to push Oslo to share in these profits.

However, on May 23, Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Eivind Vad Petersson questioned Morawiecki’s calculations.

Deputy Foreign Minister Petersson explained that oil and gas revenues would go into Norway’s pension fund, also known as the Oil Fund, which was established in 1990 to ensure that the fund serves the current and future generations of Norwegians.

“Although oil revenues have increased as a result of the war in Ukraine, the value of the fund has declined,” pointed out Vad Petersson.

The diplomat said that since the beginning of the year, the pension fund has lost 550 billion Norwegian krone (about 56 billion USD) due to instability in the stock market.

He added that the Norwegian economy and Norwegian consumers are also being affected by electricity prices and gasoline prices higher.

Also on May 23, the government of Poland, which strongly supported Kiev in the conflict with Moscow, announced the termination of the contract to buy natural gas from Russia without waiting for expiration at the end of 2022.

“After 30 years, it can be affirmed that the relationship in the gas industry between Poland and Russia has ceased,” said Piotr Naimsky, Poland’s High Commissioner for Strategic Energy Infrastructure, about the move. .

Russian gas giant Gazprom stopped supplying gas to Poland in April after Warsaw refused to switch to payment for gas in rubles. A new payment mechanism for “unfriendly countries” has been introduced by Moscow in response to Russia’s sanctions and the freezing of foreign assets.