Oil industry claims huge number of jobs
March 4, 2013
Norway’s oil industry claims it’s responsible for far more jobs than state analysts have given it credit for. A new report from the industry itself claims it provides fully a quarter-million Norwegians with full-time employment. The report from industry association Norsk olje og gass (formerly known as the Norwegian Oil Industry Association, OLF), released at [...]
Huge new energy reserves detected
February 27, 2013
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (Oljedirektoratet, NPD) unveiled new studies of southeastern portions of the Barents Sea and the area around the Arctic island of Jan Mayen on Wednesday, and predicted the sea floor contains enormous amounts of oil and gas. The new resources are expected to boost earlier estimates of undiscovered resources by at least [...]
Energy high on Merkel’s agenda
February 21, 2013
German Chancellor Angela Merkel made another whirlwind visit to Oslo on Wednesday, with a delegation of energy executives in tow. It was her fifth meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in just the past nine months, and energy and economic issues were on the agenda. Norway is Germany’s second-largest supplier of natural gas after [...]
No sweet Valentine from bank boss
February 15, 2013
Norway’s strong economy and disciplined approach to the management of its oil wealth didn’t stop the boss of the country’s central bank from sending out warnings instead of Valentine’s Day greetings on Thursday. Øystein Olsen told the country’s government and business leaders in his annual address that even though the offshore sector continues to boom, [...]
New terminal to fuel Arctic growth
February 14, 2013
The mayor of the area around Norway’s famed North Cape was jubilant this week, after Statoil announced that it intends to bring oil from its huge Skrugard and Havis fields in the Barents Sea to an onshore terminal near Honningsvåg. Statoil and local officials alike hope the new terminal will fuel further exploration and development in [...]
Labour unleashes storm over Lofoten
January 31, 2013
Battle cries were raging on Thursday after the Labour Party finally made a long-expected but hotly contested decision to pursue the prospect of drilling for oil off Lofoten and Vesterålen in northern Norway. The areas are best known for their rich fishing grounds and spectacular scenery, so the decision by Labour’s program committee predictably unleashed [...]
Eide shifts from Algeria to Arctic
January 22, 2013
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide shifted his attention from the aftermath of a hostage crisis in Afghanistan to the future of the Arctic this week, when he joined leaders of other Arctic nations at a major conference in Tromsø on Monday. Eide, who’d been working day and night on the hostage crisis, addressed the [...]
Statoil mourns as death toll rises
January 21, 2013
Algerian authorities announced Monday that 38 hostages, 37 of them foreign nationals working in Algeria, are now believed to have been killed after Islamist terrorists stormed a gas processing plant last week that was partly run by Norwegian state oil company Statoil. Five Norwegian employees at the plant who remain missing are now presumed to [...]
Norway copes with new national crisis
January 21, 2013
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg headed for Statoil’s headquarters in Stavanger on Monday, as the hostage crisis in Algeria continued to put his government and Norway’s oil industry to a new and dramatic test. With five Norwegians still missing and Statoil’s co-operated gas plant the target of last week’s terrorist attack, Stoltenberg faced an emotional meeting [...]
One Norwegian rescued, eight missing
January 18, 2013
After two full days of chaos and uncertainty, Norwegians woke up Friday to news that one more of their countrymen held hostage at a gas plant in Algeria had been rescued. Eight Norwegians remained missing after the Algerian military struck back at the terrorists who’d attacked the gas plant and captured employees early Wednesday. Norwegian [...]
Ministry confirms counterattack
January 17, 2013
Norway’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Thursday afternoon that the Algerian military had launched a counterattack on radical Islamists who’d been holding hostages, nine of them Norwegian, at the In Amenas gas processing plant in the Sahara Desert. They would not initially confirm how many were killed or wounded in the military operation, as fears rose that [...]
Statoil had braced for lengthy crisis
January 17, 2013
Helge Lund, chief executive of Norwegian state oil company Statoil, was the one to go live on national TV in Norway Thursday morning, to address the ongoing hostage drama at one of the company’s gas processing plants in Algeria. He had some new figures on the numbers of Norwegians involved but stressed that the situation [...]
Norwegians held hostage in Algeria
January 16, 2013
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg went on national television Wednesday evening to say, at that point, that 13 Norwegians were caught in a hostage crisis that continued to unfold at a gas production plant in Algeria. Stoltenberg called the situation “serious and unclear,” and the numbers of hostages later kept changing. Norwegian state-controlled oil company [...]
Statoil gas plant hit by terrorists
January 16, 2013
Employees of Norwegian state oil company Statoil and two oil industry partners were the targets Wednesday of an attack on a gas production plant in Algeria, where Statoil is among the operators. Two Norwegian employees at the plant were wounded in the attack and the attackers were still holding hostages late Wednesday afternoon. Statoil described [...]
‘Let’s drill off Lofoten this year”
January 16, 2013
Oil and Energy Minister Ola Borten Moe now wants to open up waters off scenic Lofoten for oil drilling later this year, stirring up a heated debate among government allies, opposition politicians and members of his own Center Party. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of the Labour Party rejected Moe’s comments and said the area would [...]
