Norway’s Labour Party is one step closer to a policy shift that could put a permanent ban on oil activity off the country’s northern Lofoten, Vesteraalen and Senja islands.

The Labour chapter for Nordland county, where most of the islands are located, Saturday voted to change its stance from favouring an impact assessment to keeping the area closed to the petroleum industry for good.

An impact assessment is the first step in Norway’s opening process for offshore blocks. Labour’s current policy, which has so far been supported by the Nordland division, has been to initiate an impact assessment for some of the blocks to encourage job creation in the region.

With an increasing number of regional Labour chapters now favouring a permanent closure of the blocks, Labour is more likely to shift in the same direction when its policy is up for revision in 2021 ahead of the next general election.

That, in turn, would mean parties in favour of an impact assessment would not be able to muster a majority in parliament.

Norway’s three largest political parties support drilling in the area and together have the necessary majority in parliament to make it happen, but they have nevertheless kept the blocks closed since 2001 as part of political trade-offs with smaller environmentalist parties.

The Lofoten, Vesteraalen and Senja acreage is coveted by the oil industry for its known geology, shallow water and closeness to shore. The area could hold 1.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

On the other side of the debate stand fishermen worried about harmful effects on fish stocks and fisheries, a tourist industry concerned about pollution in the pristine archipelago, and environmentalists seeking to protect the region’s wildlife and the global climate.

“We have made a historical decision, a decision for the fish and for the future”, Lena Amalie Hamnes, Labour’s mayoral candidate for the Lofoten municipality of Vaagan, told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

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Norway closer to Lofoten drilling ban