Norway: change of government – and away from oil?

Norway will elect a new parliament next week, and the election campaign will be dominated by climate issues. There could be a change of government from conservative-bourgeois to red-green. What does this mean for the oil industry?

An encounter at a huge concrete tower by the sea in Haugesund, Norway. The tower protrudes about 20 meters from the water, but the yellow markings reveal that this is only a small part – about 40 meters have already sunk into the sea. Nadia Zahl works here as an industrial plumber and shows us around the company premises. There are eleven concrete foundations on which wind turbines will later be installed.

These offshore wind turbines for oil platforms are supposed to supply up to five drilling rigs with electricity. Green energy for oil production, says Zahl proudly. With all the specialist knowledge on site, “the greenest oil” is produced. And that’s why it’s a shame that Norway is discussing stopping funding. Number fears that this will mean that other countries will produce the oil.

A discussion that, in Zahl’s opinion, is being conducted primarily in downtown Oslo, where there are “not that many factories” and “actually only politicians and children from academic families” – which Zahl would like to talk to people about who work in industry.

Less subsidies

Change of location to the politicians and academic children, as Zahl describes the inhabitants of Oslo. According to surveys, the conservative-bourgeois government around Erna Solberg has to worry. A red-green alliance could replace them after the election – albeit so far only by a narrow margin. Climate and oil dominate the election campaign, alongside issues such as education and social inequality. The government has just announced that it will remove tax breaks for the oil industry that previously applied to investments in the search for new oil fields.

According to oil historian Helge Ryggvikk from the University of Oslo, these are completely new tones in Norwegian politics. At the beginning of the pandemic, the big parties had argued about offering the oil industry the best possible conditions. New areas in the Arctic and the Barents Sea have been cleared for oil drilling. Anyone who looked critically at the oil industry at the time would have seen it as an enormous step backwards. “What we are now witnessing in the election campaign is quite a move away from it! Everyone is getting support for not looking for new oil fields.”

How does Norway contribute to climate protection?

Simon Balsnes believes that some politicians have finally understood that it would be better to turn off the oil industry yesterday than today. The student works as a group leader for oil at “natur og ungdom”, a Norwegian nature conservation organization for young people. The 23-year-old has interrupted his teaching degree and works full-time at the organization. He is driven by “existential fear” and “responsibility for the generations that come after me,” he says. “We are one of the richest countries in the world and cannot do anything to protect the climate. Who, if not us?”

The fact that Norway generates almost all of its electricity with hydropower, that there are a lot of electric cars on the roads and that the country wants to be climate neutral by 2030 – that’s not enough for Balsnes. The next government must prioritize the exit from oil production. This process must be politically controlled, with a goal and a schedule. That is then also predictable for the industry.

Use the time to look for alternatives

Back to Haugesund to the industrial plumber Zahl. She too is worried about the parliamentary elections next Monday and has only one wish for the new government – that no end date will be set and that the “greenest oil” will continue to be produced until it comes to an end. Instead, says Zahl, “we should develop a new industry that protects the welfare state as well as oil”.

She would like to keep her job, preferably until she retires, she says. Because on days like this, with sunshine and a pleasant temperature, there couldn’t be a nicer place to work than here by the sea.