The UK's energy minister Malcolm Wicks is holding talks in Norway to ensure maximum use is made of the remaining oil and gas resources in the North Sea, according to media reports.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper says that Mr Wicks has gone to Stavanger to try to forge a closer relationship between British and Norwegian upstream players with North Sea assets in a bid to squeeze the most out of the remaining oil and gas reserves offshore.
Mr Wicks is also reported to have told UK firms to up their investment in E&P technology to make sure that potential new reserves are tapped. The UK government remains concerned that the country could become over-reliant on long distance imports from potentially unstable sources such as Russia or Algeria.
Mr Wicks’ visit to the Norwegian city comes just weeks after Centrica, parent to UK residential gas incumbent British Gas and a touted target for Gazprom, announced it was opening an office there to target the North Sea more effectively.