Staying home: budget discussion shave stopped Odd Roger Enoksen from meeting EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs today
Budget talks stop Enoksen's EU visit
Norway's Oil Minister Odd Roger Enoksen has cancelled today's planned face-to-face meeting with European Union Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs in Brussels because of ongoing budget negotiations in Oslo.
Enoksen and Piebalgs still will talk by telephone later today, but the European Commission said fuller talks will be rescheduled.
The meeting was planned to forge closer ties between Norway and the EU at a time when critical Russian energy supplies are in doubt.
Since then, EU leaders have been preoccupied with energy security and have attempted to negotiate - so far unsuccessfully - a new energy partnership with Moscow.
Norway supplies about a quarter of the EU's natural gas imports, while Russia supplies about half. At the moment, all of Norway's natural gas exports go to the EU, but next year some liquified natural gas will be shipped to the US.