en.Wedoany.com Reported - Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), has publicly called on the European Union to reconsider its long-standing moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic, directly challenging the bloc's consistent stance against developing new fossil fuel projects in the region.

Speaking to the media on Thursday evening in Brussels after a meeting with Norwegian Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Birol stated: "The Commission is very carefully re-examining this issue, and I support that, because it concerns Europe's energy security. The world needs every drop of oil from Norway."

Although not an EU member state, Norway is pushing the bloc to lift the ban on new oil and gas drilling in the Arctic under a policy expected to be updated this year. The EU initially imposed this ban in 2021, prohibiting new drilling activities in the Arctic region.

The consequences of the Iran conflict have provided a rationale for Europe to achieve energy independence, but critics point out that relaxing Arctic drilling rules will not solve practical problems in the short term and will further threaten an already fragile ecosystem. This week, six institutional investors also jointly called on the EU to maintain its ban stance, stating that member states should continue to commit to the green transition.

Stoltenberg, speaking alongside Birol, reiterated Norway's position urging the EU to lift the ban. He said: "We must consider environmental issues, but it is unreasonable for Norway that there should be no oil and gas exploration in the Arctic."