Norway’s Supreme Court overturns approvals for 3 oil fields, orders reassessment
Key Facts
Norway’s Supreme Court on November 13, 2026, overturned approvals for the development of the offshore oil and gas fields Tyrving, Breidablikk and Yggdrasil because of procedural errors, ordering the state to reconsider its decisions. The ruling was issued by a 6-5 majority, reflecting a narrow split within the court. The government must reassess the three fields’ climate emissions and consider them in the context of emissions from the rest of the Norwegian continental shelf. E24 said the decision does not halt the projects but requires the state to address the approvals again. The immediate development is therefore a government reassessment, while work on the projects continues, according to one of the companies involved.
The required assessment extends beyond each field individually: the government should consider emissions from the three fields together with emissions from the rest of the Norwegian shelf. E24 said the government must "reassess the climate emissions from the three fields and consider them in the context of emissions from the rest of the Norwegian shelf." This wording links reconsideration of the decisions to a broader assessment of the climate impact of activity on the shelf. The reason for overturning the approvals, as reported by E24, was procedural errors, not a decision to revoke the companies’ licenses. The state’s next step therefore remains to reconsider the approvals on the basis of the required assessment.
Aker BP’s comments on the Tyrving and Yggdrasil fields reflected the continuation of work. The company said Tyrving production would continue despite the ruling. It added that it was continuing work on the Yggdrasil project, targeting the start of production in summer 2027. That means the production timing cited by the company remains part of its stated plan, alongside the government’s renewed review of the approvals. The ruling itself does not establish that the two projects will be halted or that the target date will change; E24 explicitly reported that the decision does not halt the projects. The near-term operational development therefore remains the continuation of work, while the state reconsiders its development decisions.
The case dates back to a lawsuit filed by Greenpeace and Natur og Ungdom against the state in 2023. The organizations said the Ministry of Energy had not sufficiently studied the global climate effects of combustion emissions before approving the development plans for the three fields. In August 2026, the Supreme Court heard the case in an expanded formation before issuing its ruling by a six-to-five majority. E24 reported that the core dispute included the extent to which combustion emissions were assessed when the development plans were approved, while the ruling required the state to revisit the approvals because of procedural errors. Two lower courts have ruled in favor of Greenpeace and Young Friends of the Earth since the case began in 2023, concluding that Norway had not properly assessed the fields’ environmental impact, according to Reuters.
The case comes amid a broader dispute over Norway’s oil policy, which Reuters described as aimed at continuing to extract crude oil and natural gas for decades to come. Before the Supreme Court ruling, the head of Greenpeace Norway said a victory in this round "could change Norwegian oil policy forever," linking it to a potential impact on how politicians are asked to assess climate consequences. The current ruling, however, does not order a halt to production or automatically revoke companies’ permits, according to E24. The court also ordered the state to pay more than 5 million Norwegian kroner in legal costs to Natur og Ungdom and Greenpeace Norway. The government’s reassessment of the approvals, alongside the continuation of work announced by Aker BP, remains the case’s main forthcoming development.