[Sixstrings]

It doesn't mean China will own Norway or that Norway will become an extension of Chinese politics in Europe. And if they do, once it becomes a painful arrangement for Norway, they will alter or break the deals.

That's easier said than done, once a foreign power is there and dominating.

China is already all over Australia, they've been buying up Africa, they're interested in Ukraine, so now Norway and the Arctic too.

I wouldn't have a problem with it if they were fully developed and fully embracing Western values, but they don't -- not on democracy, not on human rights, not environmental protection, not on food safety, nada.

When China talks about "de-americanizing" the world, doesn't that mean China taking the lead?

[ROCKMAN]

yc - I worked with some Norwigians long ago. Between that experience and what I hear from folks that deal with them on a regular basis no one...absolutely no one...will every dominate them. At least not in the oil patch. Canadians are easy going folks so it takes a bit to rile them. From my experiences Norwigians, OTOH, relish the thought of being bad-ass MF's. Hurt their feelings? Hell no...they'll just smile while thinking of another way to take advantage of the situation. If there were one nation on the planet that could toe to toe with the Chinese and at least break even my money would be on Norway. Between their reserves in the ground and their sovereign fund they are fairly free to tell anyone to F off IMHO.

[Tanada]

yc - I worked with some Norwigians long ago. Between that experience and what I hear from folks that deal with them on a regular basis no one...absolutely no one...will every dominate them. At least not in the oil patch. Canadians are easy going folks so it takes a bit to rile them. From my experiences Norwigians, OTOH, relish the thought of being bad-ass MF's. Hurt their feelings? Hell no...they'll just smile while thinking of another way to take advantage of the situation. If there were one nation on the planet that could toe to toe with the Chinese and at least break even my money would be on Norway. Between their reserves in the ground and their sovereign fund they are fairly free to tell anyone to F off IMHO.

Viking pride? That's my theory, we had two Danish exchange students at my junior college way back when, to hear them tell it Denmark was the center of the universe and they felt sorry for us poor 'mericans for having to live so far away from the center lol.

There is a solid sociological reason when Europeans have fought so many wars amongst themselves.

[FoxV]

That's good to hear about the Norwegians. I really didn't think they would be a push over to the Chinese.

Us Canuck's on the other hand is a different story. There is a saying in China; "The Canadians are so green we don't have to cook them to eat them". Sometimes I'm proud of our Laissez faire attitude, other times, not so much.

Fortunately our Big American Brother will always be close by to protect "our" interests.

When China talks about "de-americanizing" the world, doesn't that mean China taking the lead?

"de-americanize" the world, sure. But "en_chinate" the world? The only thing china is leading in right now is pollution, greed, and corruption. There are HUGE political and sociological changes required before China can become world leaders of anything positive.

I don't worry about a world were China is #1. It'll never happen. What I do worry about is what is China going to do when it starts slipping from its current very unstable #2 spot.

[ROCKMAN]

Fox - "...china is leading in right now is pollution, greed, and corruption." true but they also have about $3.5 TRILLION in foreign currency reserves. That buys a lot of access even if a country does care much for their policies.

[Strummer]

The only thing china is leading in right now is pollution, greed, and corruption.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/17/news/economy/china-green-energy/

[Graeme]

Norway’s Oil Stimulus Nears Tipping Point as Growth Fades

A near half-decade boom in oil investments in Norway is about to come to an end, sapping momentum in the economy of western Europe’s largest crude producer, the country’s main economic forecaster said.

“The big change next year is investment in the petroleum industry because we have reached the highest level, it’s peaking next year,” Hans Henrik Scheel, director general of Statistic Norway, said yesterday in an interview at his Oslo office. Oil investment will stabilize at a high level and the “demand impulse will be there but not a growth impulse,” he said.

Scandinavia’s richest nation has used its oil wealth, which it funnels into an $850 billion sovereign wealth fund, to save itself from the wave of recessions that tore through most of the rest of Europe. Yet that’s left Norway’s economy reliant on fossil fuels and with weakened competitiveness. Statistics Norway yesterday cut growth forecasts in the mainland economy, which excludes oil and gas, through 2016 as investments and record consumer debt weighs on households.

Statoil ASA (STL), Norway’s biggest oil producer, said last month it would cut planned investments by 8 percent over the next three years as the stagnant price of oil weighs on cash flow. The government, which owns 67 percent of Statoil, warned that planned projects must go ahead. The company, along with the rest of the global oil and gas industry, is reviewing investments after oil prices slid about 15 percent to $108 a barrel since 2011.

bloomberg

[Graeme]

Norway oil fund to invest in renewables

Norway's oil-generated sovereign wealth fund is to see a shift to investment in renewable energy.

The prime minister, Erna Solberg said the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) would aim to focus 5% of its NOK5,000 billion (US$800 billion) on renewables investment.

An official announcement, detailing the 5% mandate, is expected on 4 April. A white paper on the oil fund is also to come out in April.

Currently the Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the citizen-owned fund, discloses its investment strategy as 60% equity, 35% fixed income and 5% in real estate.

Out of the 60% equity investments, oil and gas accounts for 8.4%, or US$44 billion, according to the fund’s annual report.

The current average return on investments for the fund is 5.7%.

Yngve Slyngstad, the oil fund’s chief executive, told the Financial Times newspaper: “This is the people’s money. It’s the people’s representatives in the parliament who decide the main aspects of the fund and decide what they ultimately do or do not want to be invested in.”

pv-tech

[SteinarN]

Another update..
Curently the Norwegian Pension Fund Abroad stands at 5,560 billion NOK, or 874 billion US$.

In my last post of 13 september 2013 I made a mistake saying the fund was at 5,650 billion NOK. It should read 4,650 billion NOK.

Anyway, in exactly one year it has increased in value by 86 Billion US$

[AdamB]

When crude oil demand will peak is anyone’s guess. Forecasts vary widely. Wood Mackenzie says that peak demand is “very real,” and sees a decline of 4 million bpd between 2020 and 2035. Other majors including BP and Total SA see peak demand as coming between 2025 and 2040, as a result of clean energy government initiatives, slower economic growth, and wider use of electric vehicles. Not everyone is that concerned with peak oil demand, however. Recently, Norway’s Energy Minister said the biggest problem for Europe’s largest oil and gas producer is satisfying near-term demand, which is growing faster than Norwegian continental shelf operators are making discoveries. It might sound a bit weird that Europe’s greenest country is still so big on oil and gas, but in reality, there’s nothing weird: Oil and gas exports account for a substantial portion of Norway’s export revenues, with their

Norway unfazed by peak oil concerns

[AdamB]

Good for Norway! What good peak oil fear mongering do the last time anyway?

[Outcast_Searcher]

Yup. You'd think if TPTB in the US actually CARED about "security" for its citizens, that investing in true energy independence would make MANY times more sense than pouring endless $trillions into the Middle East, in order to hopefully, maybe, keep the oil from there flowing for X decades (and ruining the biosphere as a side effect).

And yet, the US PTB are apparently "good" politicians, since the keeps electing those that support the same old bad policies.

Note: HRC and Trump would have both been about the same on the US war machine. Since Sanders spouts ideology but is clueless about math and reality, who can say what he would have done?

[AdamB]

Exploration activity in the North Sea - the most mature area of Western Europe’s biggest oil producer - is at an 11-year low this year, which is a concern for the industry’s regulator, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD). “That worries me,” NPD Director General Bente Nyland told Bloomberg in a recent interview, voicing the industry concern that without new oil discoveries, especially in mature areas with well-connected infrastructure, the decline in Norway’s oil production would be even bigger than expected. Following a continual decline between 2001 and 2013, Norway’s crude oil production rose last year for the third year running, but according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), oil production this year would be nearly half the volume from the peak in 2000-2001. Two huge fields discovered in 2010 and 2011, Johan Sverdrup in the North Sea, and Johan Castberg in the Barents Sea,

Norway’s Oil Sector Faces Existential Crisis

[Subjectivist]

It has been a while since I heard fear of EU freezing in winter. If this winter is as cold as predicted heating gas will be at a high use year. How are stockpiles in the EU?

[dissident]

It has been a while since I heard fear of EU freezing in winter. If this winter is as cold as predicted heating gas will be at a high use year. How are stockpiles in the EU?

If the EU-tard bureaucrats cared about the freezing masses they would not be trying to sabotage the Nord Stream II gas pipeline expansion. No amount of hate-filled windbag bleating will change the fact that there are few suppliers and you have to deal with them instead of pretending you don't have to. If only Russia actually tried to screw over these EU-tards, then they would have some pretext. Instead it has sold gas for less than Norway.

But the EU-tards have dug their own grave. The future is LNG and EU-tards will be paying an arm and a leg while Russia will remain major supplier but of LNG instead of piped gas. Truly cutting off the nose to spite the face.

[dolanbaker]

Well the UK could have some issues if there is a really cold winter!

https://www.ft.com/content/ca377e3c-1f9f-11e7-a454-ab04428977f9

Britain’s largest storage site for natural gas will remain closed to new supplies for at least another year, leaving the country more dependent on imports next winter when demand is highest.

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, said on Wednesday that its Rough storage facility off the Yorkshire coast would not be able to receive new gas injections until May 2018 at the earliest because of concerns about the integrity of its ageing wells.

[Subjectivist]

Well the UK could have some issues if there is a really cold winter!

https://www.ft.com/content/ca377e3c-1f9f-11e7-a454-ab04428977f9

Britain’s largest storage site for natural gas will remain closed to new supplies for at least another year, leaving the country more dependent on imports next winter when demand is highest.

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, said on Wednesday that its Rough storage facility off the Yorkshire coast would not be able to receive new gas injections until May 2018 at the earliest because of concerns about the integrity of its ageing wells.

That is not good, but on the other hand putting gas in just to have it leak out instead of staying in storage is also a bad thing.

[ROCKMAN]

There's a new and potentially very serious development for UK NG supplies this winter:

"Nearly a third of the UK’s gas imports are from the tiny Gulf state, the world’s largest producer of LNG, which it ships to Europe and Asia, including to its three biggest customers: Japan, India and South Korea.

Qatar’s transport links were severed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and several other countries on Monday over Doha’s alleged funding of extremist groups. Ports, including refuelling hub Fujairah in the UAE, have been closed to Qatari-flagged ships raising concerns over cost hikes and delays to shipments."

From June 2017:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... on-imports

[Tanada]

Hmm, this claims that Norway is producing and exporting a very large quantity of Natural gas as of last season, so it seems like blaming Norway is pointing the finger in the wrong direction.

[AdamB]

After a disappointing year for drillers, Norwegian authorities are reviewing their hopes for the Nordic country’s hottest exploration area. “In the part of the Barents Sea that’s currently open, you’ve sort of tried the elephants -- the big opportunities,” Bente Nyland, the head of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, said in an interview. “You’re now down to the next generation in size.” That means the industry regulator would be happy with any discovery of about 500 million barrels of oil, she said. That’s a far cry from the multibillion barrel deposits discovered in the North Sea, which have helped Norway become one of the world’s richest countries over the past decades. Apart from Statoil ASA’s Snohvit gas field, no single discovery in the Barents has reached half a billion barrels. A record drilling campaign in the region last year yielded only one oil discovery

Hope Wanes for ‘Elephant’ Oil Discoveries in Norway’s Arctic