President Rodrigo Chaves confirmed this week that Costa Rica has requested assistance from Norway as the Central American nation reevaluates its energy profile and feasibility of tapping potential domestic fossil fuel reserves.
Chaves and environment minister Franz Tattenbach revealed the administration contacted Norway looking to leverage the European country’s unrivaled experience profitably extracting oil and natural gas from beneath the North Sea since the 1970s. With the lowest per capita carbon footprint among petroleum producers globally, Norway also aligns with Costa Rica’s eco-image.
The prospect of launching drilling or fracking operations remains controversial domestically, however. Seeking Norwegian guidance aims to inject empirical data and technical direction into debates around whether such activities could align with preservation of Costa Rica’s natural resources — or dramatically undermine its green, sustainable brand.
The president asserted tapping into even modest fossil fuel deposits using modern, cleaner Norwegian methods could hugely benefit Costa Rica without sacrificing its commitment to fighting climate change. He believes key would be channeling any revenues into a national sovereign wealth fund akin to Norway’s model.
However, many legislators and activists counter that Costa Rica has banned not just extracting but even exploring deposits until 2050 specifically to safeguard ecological stability. This week new legislation was introduced seeking to outright prohibit such activities indefinitely.
Costa Rica currently meets over 98% of its energy needs through renewable sources and has plans to be a carbon neutral economy by 2050. But with soaring fuel costs weighing on consumers and government budgets, Chaves believes reassessing dormant oil and gas potential utilizing Norway’s eco-conscious approach merits consideration.
For now the proposal rests in Norway’s court on whether sufficient incentive and ethical overlaps exist to partner with Costa Rica on moving the controversial idea forward through their technical guidance and oversight.
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Ileana Fernandez
