Norwegian energy and oil minister Tord Lien responded to criticism regarding Norway’s decision to partner with Chinese state-owned CNOOC to explore for oil in the Icelandic sector of the Jan Mayen area (Drekisvæði for the Icelanders), while suspending drilling on the Norwegian sector, dubbed a case of “double standards” by Greenpeace: “If they have more confidence in the Chinese state-owned company than in the Norwegian state-owned company when it comes to environmental issues, then I think that’s a bit surprising.” Norway’s participation won’t lead to any “more or less oil activity” off Iceland, said Lien, while from an environmental point of view it’s a good thing to have Norway’s Petoro work together with the Chinese operator, and it makes economic sense to have access to information to be gathered from exploration activities, the first ever in the high-potential Jan Mayen area, at a “relatively marginal cost” ($4m last time I checked). All of the above from Aftenbladet. More about CNOOC in Iceland in my article and subsequent posts on the topic.