Norway’s government won’t propose any tax incentives for oil companies to boost recovery at aging fields and marginal offshore discoveries before parliamentary elections later this year. “There are no planned initiatives related to this,” Petroleum and Energy Minister Terje Soviknes said in an interview in Trondheim on Tuesday. “My experience is that the market for the time being seeks stability first of all. It’s been a very demanding three-year period.”
The minister’s comments mark the first time the Conservative-led government rules out such measures, which it promised to consider when it took office in 2013. While stressing the need for stability in the oil industry’s framework conditions, including the tax system, officials from Prime Minister Erna Solberg to Finance Minister Siv Jensen have signaled minor changes could occur in line with the government’s political platform.