A new oil well is too close to Norway’s Lofoten Islands for environmentalists’ comfort

No drilling is allowed in the waters nearest Lofoten, but a new well was begun earlier this month near the edge of the excluded area.

The closest thing to drilling in the oil-rich waters around the Lofoten Islands these days is licence block 896 of the exploration area known as Nordland V. Oil exploration is currently not permitted in Lofoten, and, depending on your view, block 896, which is located adjacent to the archipelago, is either dangerously close to spoiling its fishing and tourism industries, or tantalisingly close to tapping into the 1.3 billion barrels of oil its waters are estimated to contain.