Environment Forum

Norway: recovering ‘petroholic’ or prudent saver?

My name is Norway and I’m a petroholic.

“I’ve tried it all: Vaseline, kerosene, gasoline, jet fuel and diesel. I’ve even tried natural gas,” says a leaflet from the most controversial stand at Norway’s biggest oil and gas exhibition.

Situated next to lavish exhibits of dozens of oil and gas companies and hundreds of oil sector contractors, green group Bellona is preaching the sober message of the renewables revolution at the heart of Norway’s oil world – the ONS conference in Stavanger.

In a 12-step rehab plan for Norway, Bellona says the world’s No. 5 exporter of oil and No. 2 gas provider has based its prosperous economy on resource extraction that will not last, and is already exhibiting signs of a “petro hangover”.

By some measures, Norway is increasingly dependent on oil. Half of its exports, a third of budget revenues and a quarter of its economy come from the offshore sector. Studies show that wages in Norway, which was the poorest Scandinavian country at the start of its oil era 40 years ago, are among the highest in the world and about a third higher than in neighbour Sweden.