UK’s main gas supplier Norway makes huge ‘war profits’ as Putin’s grip on Europe weakens

Back in September, Norwegian opposition party lawmaker Rasmus Hansson lashed out at his Government for raking in huge sums of cash amid Putin’s brutal invasion and Europe’s energy crisis, calling it “morally wrong”. 

He told Politico: “We think Norway is being short-sighted and too selfish. We are getting a windfall profit which is very big, but the question is does that money belong to us as long as the most obvious reason for that price increase and that extra income is the disaster that has befallen the Ukrainian people?.

Mr Hansson added that instead of charging European allies astronomical prices, his country should instead have experts set what they believe to be a “normal” gas price, arguing that everything above that should be viewed as war profits and be redistributed.

Steiner Juel, an economist from the Oslo-based think-tank Civita, said that in Norway, “many people feel embarrassed to get this income because of this disaster we have in Europe”, the Telegraph reports. 

Now, discussions are reportedly being held as the country mulls over setting up a fund to funnel more of the money to Ukraine and developing countries affected by the food shortages resulting from the war. But Norway has still not come to a decision about where to take its oil and gas industry. 

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1705097/uk-norway-gas-war-profits-energy-crisis-putin-russia