Alberta Energy Minister and Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie is in Norway and Germany this week, to promote Alberta's energy sector to potential European markets.
According to a press release from the Alberta government on Saturday, Guthrie is attending the Oslo Energy Forum in Norway's capital city from Feb. 14 to 16. This year’s conference focuses on the future of the energy sector and addressing energy security, sustainability and affordability.
The release states Guthrie will be "participating in a panel to discuss solutions for hard-to-abate sectors, highlighting Alberta’s global leadership in carbon capture utilization and storage."
Following the forum in Oslo, Guthrie will travel south to Germany to promote Alberta's hydrogen and liquefied natural gas as options for meeting Germany’s long-term energy needs.
“Alberta is the best solution to the global energy crisis,” Guthrie said in the release. “We are strengthening relationships with international partners while promoting our energy sector as the affordable, reliable and responsible supplier. The world needs more Alberta energy – not less.”
He will return to Canada on Feb. 22 after meetings in Düsseldorf and Berlin.
Due to its prior dependence on Russian oil and pipeline gas, Germany has been in an energy crisis since the onset of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. According to a Feb. 3 post on Clean Energy Wire, "Policymakers, businesses and households alike [in Germany] are struggling to cope with skyrocketing prices, which are fanning fears of irreparable damages to the country’s prized industries, economic hardships for its citizens, and social unrest."
As part of the European trip, the minister will meet with government officials and industry representatives “to build political and economic relationships that will help drive future growth and investment.”
Guthrie is accompanied on the trip by his chief of staff and one representative from the Department of Energy, although the release did not state who the representative was. According to the release, expenses will be posted on the government's travel and expense disclosure page.
