"We are going to increase our exports of natural gas to Europe and you can count on Norway when it comes to energy supplies to Europe," he told reporters after talks with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
The 27-nation bloc is seeking to reduce its reliance on Russian gas after pricing disputes between Russia and transit states disrupted supplies in recent years and Russia's invasion of Georgia in August stoked tensions.
He said Norway had not yet decided on whether to explore for hydrocarbons in the Arctic and warned against growing military activity in the region.
"We will do whatever we can to avoid an arms race in the Arctic," he said. "Russia have increased military activity in the Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea, and that's an expression of a stronger economy and presence of Russia in many areas."
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday threatened to scrap plans for the Nord Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea to Germany if Europe kept delaying the bitterly disputed project.
Brussels has already identified the pipeline, a joint venture involving Russia's Gazprom and Germany's E.ON EONG.DE and BASF, as a key project to ensure secure gas supplies for Europe.
But it has been criticised in Poland, Lithuania and Estonia, which are angered at being bypassed, as well as in Sweden on environmental grounds.
Stoltenberg's promise to expand gas exports to the EU did not surpass existing forecasts by Norwegian energy authorities that they could rise to between 125 billion to 140 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year by 2020, up from around 100 bcm today.
"We are in favour of that," he told Reuters. "The key issue is to find enough volumes to make it commercial."
Author: Jo Amey
