The Danish government will "initiate a process" to look at possibly extending one or more production licences in the Danish North Sea, to contribute to European energy security and independence, it said.
"Geopolitical realities underline the need for Europe to take more responsibility for its own energy supply… Europe must be able to stand on its own two feet when it comes to energy supply and security", the government said.
The potential extension is framed in terms of energy security for Europe, rather than solely for Denmark.
"The government will investigate whether it makes sense to extend one or more licenses — not for Denmark's sake, but for Europe's", climate and energy minister Lars Aagaard said. Although Europe is moving away from Russian energy, it is "still dependent on imported energy", including from the US, Danish minister of economic affairs Stephanie Lose said.
Any licence extension must "take place within the framework of the North Sea Agreement and Denmark's long-term climate goals and international obligations", the government said.
The North Sea Agreement, signed in 2020, committed Denmark to cancel all future oil and gas licensing rounds and set a phase-out date of 2050 for fossil fuel extraction. Denmark was the biggest oil and gas producer at the time to establish an end date for the fuels' extraction.
"I would have preferred that Europe could make do with green energy. But the reality is different, and I fundamentally believe that it is better for Europe to get gas from Denmark than from countries outside our continent", Aagaard said.
Denmark has a legally binding target to reduce GHG emissions by 70pc by 2030, from a 1990 baseline — more stringent than the EU-wide target. It committed at the UN Cop 30 climate summit in November to a 2035 goal of 82pc GHG cuts by 2030, from the same baseline, one of the most ambitious in the world. The bill to set this target in law is currently under consultation.
Denmark aims to reach net zero emissions by 2045, and negative emissions beyond that. Renewable sources made up more than half of Denmark's total energy supply in 2024, IEA data show.
The government has set aside 4bn Danish kroner ($632mn) annually for 15 years from 2034 to reach its climate goals.
