Energy in Norway - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Since the discovery of North Sea oil

North Sea oil

North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid oil and natural gas, produced from oil reservoirs beneath the North Sea.In the oil industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian Sea and the area known as "West of Shetland", "the Atlantic Frontier" or "the...

in Norwegian waters during the late 1960s, exports of oil and gas have become very important elements of the economy of Norway

Economy of Norway

The economy of Norway is a developed mixed economy with heavy state-ownership in strategic areas of the economy. Although sensitive to global business cycles, the economy of Norway has shown robust growth since the start of the industrial era...

. With North Sea oil production having peaked, disagreements over exploration for oil in the Barents Sea

Barents Sea

The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of Norway and Russia. Known in the Middle Ages as the Murman Sea, the sea takes its current name from the Dutch navigator Willem Barents...

, the prospect of exploration in the Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

, as well as growing international concern over global warming

Global warming

Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...

, energy in Norway is currently receiving close attention.

Overview

Energy in Norway
	Capita	Prim. energy	Production	Export	Electricity	CO₂-emission
	Million	TWh	TWh	TWh	TWh	Mt
2004	4.59	322	2,775	2,452	113	36.3
2007	4.71	312	2,488	2,172	118	36.9
2008	4.77	345	2,555	2,195	119	37.6
2009	4.83	328	2,485	2,157	114	37.3
Change 2004-2009	5.2 %	2.1 %	-10.5 %	-12.0 %	0.5 %	2.8 %
Mtoe = 11,63 TWh Prim. energy includes energy losses

Fossil fuels

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

is the third largest oil exporter on Earth (8th largest producer), producing around 3 million barrels of oil/day, and the world's sixth largest producer of natural gas, having significant gas reserves in the North Sea

North Sea oil

. Norway also possesses some of the world's largest potentially exploitable coal reserves (located under the Norwegian continental shelf

Norwegian continental shelf

The Norwegian continental shelf is the continental shelf over which Norway exercises sovereign rights as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea...

) on earth.

North Sea oil

In May 1963, Norway asserted sovereign rights over natural resources in its sector of the North Sea. Exploration started on July 19, 1966, when Ocean Traveller drilled its first hole. Initial exploration was fruitless, until Ocean Viking found oil on August 21, 1969. By the end of 1969, it was clear that there were large oil and gas reserves in the North Sea. The first oil field was Ekofisk, produced 427,442 barrels of crude in 1980. Since then, large natural gas

Natural gas

Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

reserves have also been discovered.

Against the backdrop of the 1972 Norwegian referendum to not join the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

, the Norwegian Ministry of Industry, headed by Ola Skjåk Bræk

Ola Skjåk Bræk

Ola Skjåk Bræk was a Norwegian banker and politician for the Liberal Party. He was Minister of Industry in 1972–1973....

moved quickly to establish a national energy policy. Norway decided to stay out of OPEC

OPEC

OPEC is an intergovernmental organization of twelve developing countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, and hosts regular meetings...

, keep its own energy prices in line with world markets, and spend the revenue—known as the "currency gift"—in the Petroleum Fund of Norway

The Government Pension Fund of Norway

The Government Pension Fund of Norway comprises two entirely separate sovereign wealth funds owned by the Government of Norway:* The Government Pension Fund - Global...

. The Norwegian government established its own oil company, Statoil

Statoil

Statoil ASA is a Norwegian petroleum company established in 1972. It merged with Norsk Hydro in 2007 and was known as StatoilHydro until 2009, when the name was changed back to Statoil ASA. The brand Statoil was retained as a chain of fuel stations owned by StatoilHydro...

, and awarded drilling and production rights to Norsk Hydro

Norsk Hydro

Norsk Hydro ASA is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. Hydro is the fourth largest integrated aluminium company worldwide. It has operations in some 40 countries around the world and is active on all continents. The Norwegian state holds a 43.8 percent...

and the newly formed Saga Petroleum

Saga Petroleum

Saga Petroleum was a Norwegian upstream petroleum company established in 1972 that was acquired by Norsk Hydro in 1999. Since October 2007 it is a part of Statoil. The company was the only fully private oil company in Norway. It had partial ownership in 60 oil field licenses and was operator of 18...

.

The North Sea turned out to present many technological challenges for production and exploration, and Norwegian companies invested in building capabilities to meet these challenges. A number of engineering and construction companies emerged from the remnants of the largely lost shipbuilding industry, creating centers of competence in Stavanger

Stavanger

Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...

and the western suburbs of Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

. Stavanger also became the land-based staging area for the offshore drilling

Offshore drilling

Offshore drilling refers to a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled through the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently produce hydrocarbons which lie in rock formations beneath the seabed...

industry.

Barents Sea oil

In March 2005, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Petersen stated that the Barents Sea

Barents Sea

, off the coast of Norway and Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, may hold one third of the world’s remaining undiscovered oil and gas.
Also in 2005, the moratorium on exploration in the Norwegian sector, imposed in 2001 due to environmental concerns, was lifted following a change in government. A terminal and liquefied natural gas

Liquefied natural gas

Liquefied natural gas or LNG is natural gas that has been converted temporarily to liquid form for ease of storage or transport....

plant is now being constructed at Snøhvit

Snøhvit

Snøhvit is the name of a natural gas field in the Norwegian Sea, situated northwest of Hammerfest, Norway. The northern part of the Norwegian Sea is often described as the Barents Sea by offshore petroleum companies...

and, as the Arctic ice cap shrinks due to global warming, it is thought that Snøhvit

Snøhvit

may also act as a future staging post for oil exploration in the Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...

Electricity generation

Electricity generation in Norway is almost entirely from hydroelectric power plants. Of the total production in 2005 of 137.8 TWh

TWH

TWH or twh could refer to:*Tennessee Walking Horse, a breed of horse* Toronto Western Hospital, a hospital in Toronto, Canada* TWH Bus & Coach, a bus company in Romford, England* Terrawatt-hour, measure of electrical energy, 1012 watt-hours...

, 136 TWh was from hydroelectric plants, 860 GWh was from thermal power, and 499 GWh was wind generated. In 2005 the total consumption was 125.8 TWh.http://www.nve.no

Norway was the first country to generate electricity commercially using sea-bed tidal power

Tidal power

Tidal power, also called tidal energy, is a form of hydropower that converts the energy of tides into useful forms of power - mainly electricity....

. A 300 kilowatt prototype underwater turbine started generation in the Kvalsund

Kvalsund

Kvalsund is a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kvalsund. Kvalsund was separated from the municipality of Sørøysund on 1 July 1869....

, south of Hammerfest

Hammerfest

is a city and municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The municipality encompasses parts of three islands: Kvaløya, Sørøya, and Seiland. Hammerfest was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838...

, on November 13, 2003. http://www.e-tidevannsenergi.com/ http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4188

Since 6 May 2008, the Norwegian and Dutch electricity grids are interconnected by NorNed

NorNed

NorNed is a long HVDC submarine power cable between Feda in Norway and the seaport of Eemshaven in the Netherlands, which interconnects both countries' electricity grids. It is the longest submarine power cable in the world. Budgeted at €550 million, and completed at a cost of €600m, the...

submarine HVDC (450 kilovolts) cable with a capacity of 700 megawatts. http://www.tennet.org/english/projects/norned_/projectomschrijving.aspx

Carbon emissions

Despite producing the majority of its electricity from hydroelectric plants, Norway is ranked 12th in the 2004 list of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita and 37th in the 2004 list of countries by ratio of GDP to carbon dioxide emissions. Norway is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol

Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...

, under which it agreed to reduce its carbon emissions to no more than 1% above 1990 levels by 2012.

On April 19, 2007, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg

Jens Stoltenberg

is a Norwegian politician, leader of the Norwegian Labour Party and the current Prime Minister of Norway. Having assumed office on 17 October 2005, Stoltenberg previously served as Prime Minister from 2000 to 2001....

announced to the Labour Party

Norwegian Labour Party

The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....

annual congress that Norway's greenhouse gas

Greenhouse gas

A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...

emissions would be cut by 10 percent more than its Kyoto commitment by 2012, and that the government had agreed to achieve emission cuts of 30% by 2020. He also proposed that Norway should become carbon neutral

Carbon neutral

Carbon neutrality, or having a net zero carbon footprint, refers to achieving net zero carbon emissions by balancing a measured amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount sequestered or offset, or buying enough carbon credits to make up the difference...

by 2050, and called upon other rich countries to do likewise. This carbon neutrality would be achieved partly by carbon offset

Carbon offset

A carbon offset is a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for or to offset an emission made elsewhere....

ting, a proposal criticised by Greenpeace

Greenpeace

Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...

, who also called on Norway to take responsibility for the 500m tonnes of emissions caused by its exports of oil and gas. World Wildlife Fund Norway also believes that the purchase of carbon offsets is unacceptable, saying "it is a political stillbirth to believe that China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

will quietly accept that Norway will buy climate quotas abroad". The Norwegian environmental activist Bellona Foundation

Bellona Foundation

The Bellona Foundation is a multi-disciplinary international environmental NGO based in Oslo, Norway. Founded in 1986 by Frederic Hauge and Rune Haaland as a direct action protest group, it has since blossomed into a recognized technology and solution-oriented environmental champion with offices on...

believes that the prime minister was forced to act due to pressure from anti-European Union

European Union

members of the coalition

Coalition

A coalition is a pact or treaty among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant...

government, and called the announcement "visions without content".

In January 2008 the Norwegian government went a step further and declared a goal of being carbon neutral by 2030. But the government has not been specific about any plans to reduce emissions at home; the plan is based on buying carbon offsets from other countries.

Carbon capture and storage

Norway was the first country to operate an industrial-scale carbon capture and storage

Carbon capture and storage

Carbon capture and storage , alternatively referred to as carbon capture and sequestration, is a technology to prevent large quantities of from being released into the atmosphere from the use of fossil fuel in power generation and other industries. It is often regarded as a means of mitigating...

storage project at the Sleipner oilfield, dating from 1996 and operated by Statoil

Statoil

. Carbon dioxide is stripped from natural gas with amine

Amine

Amines are organic compounds and functional groups that contain a basic nitrogen atom with a lone pair. Amines are derivatives of ammonia, wherein one or more hydrogen atoms have been replaced by a substituent such as an alkyl or aryl group. Important amines include amino acids, biogenic amines,...

solvent

Solvent

A solvent is a liquid, solid, or gas that dissolves another solid, liquid, or gaseous solute, resulting in a solution that is soluble in a certain volume of solvent at a specified temperature...

s and is deposited in a saline formation. The carbon dioxide is a waste product of the field's natural gas production; the gas contains 9% CO₂, more than is allowed in the natural gas distribution network. Storing it underground avoids this problem and saves Statoil hundreds of millions of euro

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

s in carbon tax

Carbon tax

A carbon tax is an environmental tax levied on the carbon content of fuels. It is a form of carbon pricing. Carbon is present in every hydrocarbon fuel and is released as carbon dioxide when they are burnt. In contrast, non-combustion energy sources—wind, sunlight, hydropower, and nuclear—do not...

es. Sleipner stores about one million tonne

Tonne

The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...

s of CO₂ a year.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Overview

Fossil fuels

North Sea oil

Barents Sea oil

Electricity generation

Carbon emissions

Carbon capture and storage

See also

External links