Norway's offshore petroleum industry — problems and prospects

Abstract

Abstract Norway, among the world's top three offshore crude and natural gas producers, has enough offshore reserves to assure it an important place in world production for several decades. Drillers discovered petroleum within Norway's North Sea region in 1968. Production first began there in 1971, should occur in the Norwegian Sea by late 1993, and begin in the near future within the Barents Sea. The isolation of the Barents Sea fields from markets presents difficult transportation problems, requiring the liquefaction of natural gas, rather than direct long‐ distance pipelining. Norway's petroleum industry has a major economic impact on foreign exports, on national income, and on employment. Although the country's offshore petroleum industry seems secure for the near future, the national and local governments and industry need to develop greater industrial diversification within the export sector.