Norway Leverages Its Petroleum Know-How

Ever since hydrocarbons were first discovered in Norway in 1969, they have formed the backbone of the Norwegian economy and government revenues. Oslo has used petrodollars to set up the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, the $878 billion Government Pension Fund Global, along with expansive social welfare programs. The money has also enabled Norway to achieve spectacularly low unemployment rates even as the rest of Europe's economies struggle. Unlike many of its European neighbors, the Norwegian government also retains significant stakes in many of the country's key companies, including Statoil, Norway's major oil company. The Norwegian government has a 67 percent stake in the firm.

Maintaining oil and natural gas production, which makes up two-thirds of Norway's exports, is imperative for Norway, which is proactively maintaining production rates. Norway's state-backed energy production at home and abroad is not only critical to the country's domestic stability by helping finance state welfare programs, it is also critical to Norway's foreign policy objective of counterbalancing Russia's energy dominance in Europe.