H.E. Terje Aasland is Norway’s Minister of Energy in the government of Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Appointed Minister of Petroleum and Energy on 7 March 2022, he has held the renamed post of Minister of Energy since 1 January 2024, and in August 2025 he became the longest-serving minister responsible for energy in Norway’s history. His portfolio covers petroleum activities on the Norwegian continental shelf, a major source of gas for Europe, as well as electricity supply, renewable energy and carbon capture and storage.

Aasland was born in Skien in 1965 and trained as an energy technician (energimontør), obtaining his trade certificate in 1986. He worked for the municipal power company Skiensfjordens Kommunale Kraftselskap from 1982 to 1994, then held trade union posts with Norsk Elektriker- og Kraftstasjonsforbund from 1994 to 1999 and EL og IT Forbundet from 1999 to 2005.

He was a member of Skien municipal council from 1991 to 2003 and has represented Telemark in the Storting since 2005. In Parliament he chaired the Standing Committee on Business and Industry from 2009 to 2013, was first vice chair of the Standing Committee on Energy and the Environment from 2013 to 2017, and chaired that committee from 2021 until he joined the government in 2022, having also served as the Labour Party’s deputy parliamentary leader.

Aasland’s focus as minister includes keeping Norway a stable, long-term supplier of oil and gas to Europe through continued activity and resource development on the continental shelf, securing electricity supply for households and industry, developing offshore wind, and facilitating carbon storage on the shelf. In August 2025 he opened the subsea compression system for the Ormen Lange gas field at Nyhamna, which is expected to raise recovery from the field from 75 to 85 per cent.