Norwegians have a reputation as sober citizens who trust their scientists. Ironically, they seem to exclude the climate scientists. The surprise was great a few weeks ago when a Europe-wide survey as part of the EU program Horizon 2020 showed that most of the climate change deniers among the nations surveyed were in Norway: while eight out of ten Italians said that climate change was man-made, they believed it times six out of ten Norwegians.
Many Norwegians were also shocked by the result. When looking for the reasons, one quickly came to the fact that “we have oil in our blood,” as the Oslo newspaper put it Dagsavisen this week wrote, “We are not willing to sacrifice what has brought us wealth over the past fifty years.” Another result of the EU study fits in with this: no other people have as much trust in the oil and gas industry as the Norwegians. No wonder, given that it finances the country’s prosperity.
And the money is flowing like never before. Norway’s largest oil and gas company, the state-owned company Equinor, announced another record profit for the last quarter on Wednesday, which exceeded all expectations: profit before taxes of 17.6 billion dollars. The company now wants to pay out the equivalent of two billion euros in dividends to shareholders and buy back shares worth one billion euros. Equinor CEO Anders Opedal gave the reason himself on Wednesday: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has “created an energy crisis with high prices”. Opedal tried to portray his company as a hard worker in the service of good: “Equinor is doing its best to ensure Europe’s energy security.”
“Europe is screaming for gas.”
And in fact, the Europeans are very happy at the moment, especially for every cubic meter of gas that Norway supplies. The EU now imports up to 25 percent of its gas from Norway, and most recently 40 percent from Russia. “Europe is crying out for gas,” writes broadcaster NRK. The EU countries received eight percent more than in 2021 from Norway in the first half of the year.
Norway as the savior of the continent, the picture appeals to many in the north. The Norwegians have always seen themselves as a morally “good nation,” Truls Tunby Kristiansen of the Arctic University in Tromso told NRK. This is one of the reasons why they might find it more difficult than others to face the fact that the oil industry, which is sacred to them, is fueling global warming. They also don’t like to talk about the fact that Norway’s help to Europe is not entirely selfless, in fact the country is becoming a veritable war profiteer. The business newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) According to Norway, from January to March gas was sold to the rest of Europe for almost 26 billion euros – a turnover five times higher than before the war and Corona. And gas prices keep going up and up.
It was Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki who calculated at the beginning of the summer that the Norwegians – albeit unintentionally – benefited directly and massively from Putin’s war: “Dear Norwegian friends, that’s not normal, that’s not fair,” said Morawiecki and asked Norway to share some of its unexpected profits with the victims of the war. Indeed, a debate then developed within Norway itself: some suggested that the country should increase its development aid, others called for more direct aid to Ukraine. The newspaper Aften post did the math and came up with at least nine other European countries that gave more aid to Ukraine compared to their economic power. Even the financial daily DN wrote in an editorial that the money “in a way belongs to those fighting in the trenches in Ukraine.” After all, they weren’t just fighting for their country, but for western democracy.
The Norwegian government, however, rejects all such proposals. Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum justifies this with the situation of the huge state oil fund, which invests Norway’s oil profits for future generations: the fund’s losses on the troubled stock markets of the world are still larger than the profits of this year. In fact, Norway must save.
The cautious tones on the government side are in stark contrast to the euphoria in the oil companies. A headline in DN this week read, “Where Does All That Wealth Go?”