OREANDA-NEWS Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), has called on the European Union (EU) to review the moratorium on oil and gas production in the Arctic. This is reported by Bloomberg.

The executive director of the IEA insists on lifting the ban on drilling oil and gas wells in the region, as "every drop" is important for Europe's energy security. He said this after a meeting with Norwegian Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

Despite the fact that Norway has never joined the EU, it insists that the union lift the moratorium on new drilling of oil and gas wells in the Arctic as part of an updated policy expected this year. The initial ban on new drilling was introduced in 2021.

Despite the fact that the war in Iran threatens Europe's energy independence, a number of experts are confident that relaxing drilling regulations in the Arctic will not help in the short term, but it will damage the local ecosystem.

Earlier, Leonid Mikhelson, the head of Novatek, stated that Russian companies need international support to develop gas reserves in the Arctic and produce liquefied natural gas. Without this, "the development of the Arctic zone is almost impossible."