Norway to Reopen 3 Gas Fields Shut Down in 1998

The fields are expected to produce gas until 2048, with exports heading to Germany and condensate shipped to the UK.

Statoil's Sleipner gas platform, some 250 kms off Norway's coast, in the North Sea, on May 15, 2008. Daniel Sannum-Lauten/AFP/Getty Images

Norway has approved plans to reopen three gas fields in the North Sea that were shut down nearly three decades ago, a move the government says will support European energy security.

The Ministry of Energy said on May 5 that it has approved development plans for the Albuskjell, Vest Ekofisk, and Tommeliten Gamma fields, all located in the Ekofisk area in the southern North Sea.