Denmark’s oil and gas bans—an exercise in virtue signalling?
No future rounds to award new E&P licences will take place. Given recent exploration activity, it is unlikely anyone will care
Denmark’s climate, energy and utilities ministry announced to some fanfare in December that what it dubbed “a broad majority” of the country’s MPs had agreed to cancel both the ongoing eighth licensing round and any future oil and gas E&P bidding auctions, as well as committing to ending all oil and gas production by 2050. The ministry’s data on exploration wells drilled suggests it might just as easily have not bothered. In October last year, Total, the largest operator on the Danish continental shelf (DCS) owing to its 2017 acquisition of Maersk, withdrew from the eighth round, triggering the government to enter into talks with all stakeholders on the future of the DCS. Perhaps the big
Also in this section
10 March 2026
Eni’s director for global gas and LNG portfolio, Cristian Signoretto, discusses how demand will respond to rising LNG supply, and how the company is expanding its own gas and LNG operations through disciplined, capital-efficient investments
9 March 2026
Petroleum Economist analysis sees increases in output from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Kazakhstan among others before region’s murky descent
9 March 2026
Energy sanctions are becoming an increasingly prominent tool of US foreign policy, with the country’s growth in oil and gas production allowing it to impose pressure on rivals without jeopardising its own energy security or that of its allies, argues Matthew McManus, a visiting fellow at the National Center for Energy Analytics
6 March 2026
The March 2026 issue of Petroleum Economist is out now!
