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It's indeed an interesting article, but I failed to understand what Norwegians managed to do differently than other states to achieve success. It seems article

by vl 16y ago

It's indeed an interesting article, but I failed to understand what Norwegians managed to do differently than other states to achieve success. It seems article doesn't go into much detail about it.

tallanvor 16y ago
It basically boils down to a two things, I think: 1. They didn't allow the oil companies to call the shots. With this, they managed to avoid a lot of the corruption we see with MMS in the US. 2. Rather than spend the profits from oil, Norway invested it. So when oil production drops, they don't face a huge budget gap, they just have less to put into the investment fund. Granted, they need to start figuring out what will happen when oil production dries up completely, but they have quite some time before that becomes an issue.
bl4k 16y ago
First step was to have their own state owned oil company that would take part in exploration and drilling, rather than allowing foreign companies to take control in hope of 'trickle down effects' Step two was to introduce a regulating body with strict policies (the policies were written by the subject of the article). The policies included extraction rates, technology standards, environmental standards etc. Third step was that the regulating body treated the government owned oil company just like any other when it came to tenders or exploration licenses - which minimizes corruption in government (or just shift corruption to this regulating body, really - but I guess they have some form of parliamentary oversight). Further step was that all profits from exploration and drilling went into a sovereign wealth fund which would divest the wealth of the nation into foreign markets - smoothing out economic cycles domestically and providing a future fund. All of these policies together contributed to a system that has less of a corrupting effect on both the local government and local economy. It is a best case example of how to maximize the overall benefit from resource wealth that would usually only benefit a selected few people or just a select sector.

by vl 16y ago

It's indeed an interesting article, but I failed to understand what Norwegians managed to do differently than other states to achieve success. It seems article doesn't go into much detail about it.

tallanvor 16y ago

It basically boils down to a two things, I think: 1. They didn't allow the oil companies to call the shots. With this, they managed to avoid a lot of the corruption we see with MMS in the US. 2. Rather than spend the profits from oil, Norway invested it. So when oil production drops, they don't face a huge budget gap, they just have less to put into the investment fund. Granted, they need to start figuring out what will happen when oil production dries up completely, but they have quite some time before that becomes an issue.

bl4k 16y ago

First step was to have their own state owned oil company that would take part in exploration and drilling, rather than allowing foreign companies to take control in hope of 'trickle down effects' Step two was to introduce a regulating body with strict policies (the policies were written by the subject of the article). The policies included extraction rates, technology standards, environmental standards etc. Third step was that the regulating body treated the government owned oil company just like any other when it came to tenders or exploration licenses - which minimizes corruption in government (or just shift corruption to this regulating body, really - but I guess they have some form of parliamentary oversight). Further step was that all profits from exploration and drilling went into a sovereign wealth fund which would divest the wealth of the nation into foreign markets - smoothing out economic cycles domestically and providing a future fund. All of these policies together contributed to a system that has less of a corrupting effect on both the local government and local economy. It is a best case example of how to maximize the overall benefit from resource wealth that would usually only benefit a selected few people or just a select sector.