As of 2008, Norway was the world's 11th largest producer of oil, and since the Norwegian population is less than five million people, the vast majority of the oil drilled by Norway is exported, making Norway the world's fifth largest net oil exporter. Norway gets its oil from offshore rigs, such as the one featured below, most of which are located in the North Sea.
From: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/world/europe/22norway.html
The discovery of oil in North Sea in 1969 helped transform a country that was poor by western European standards into one of the wealthiest nations in the world. A number of Norwegians we have talked to have noted that not long ago, their nation was much less prosperous than it is today.
Oddly enough, despite this surplus of oil, gasoline in Norway is much more expensive than in the United States.
Oddly enough, despite this surplus of oil, gasoline in Norway is much more expensive than in the United States.
At the Kristiansand Shell station whose sign is featured here, bensin (i.e., gasoline) was 12.58 kroner per liter. Given that there are about 3.79 liters in a gallon, and that the current exchange rate is about 6.3 kroner to the dollar, this means that a gallon of gas in Norway would cost more than $7.50!
This high gasoline price is due to high government taxes. This decision to tax gasoline at a high rate has helped to shape Norwegian society in distinctive ways.
When gasoline is expensive, people are less likely to use it. So, Norwegians in many cases simply ditch their cars and instead either walk or take a bus or train (which per passenger, use less gasoline per mile traveled than do cars). The self-imposed high gasoline prices help explain why so many people walk or ride bicycles to get around here. It's quite a common sight to see middle-aged or older people tooling around in Kristiansand on bicycles.
The presence of baskets or bags on so many bicycles around here testifies as to the utilitarian, rather than purely recreational, function of bicycling here.
(In some cases, you can get a larger version of the photograph by clicking on it.)
In some parts of Kristiansand, the sidewalk is divided into pedestrian and bicycle lanes. If you're a pedestrian, it's a good idea to stay out of the bike lane, as some bicyclists zip around pretty fast.
And while lots of people do have automobiles, it's much more common for people here to take buses to get around. Likewise, when people travel from one city to another, they will very often use trains or buses instead of hopping in a car. And while in U.S. cities the average bus rider is often lower-income, it's typical for middle-class Norwegians to take the bus.
Since fewer Norwegians use cars, many shoppers here place a premium on being able to get to their store easily by bus, bike or foot. As a result, grocery-store chains set up lots of different postage-stamp sized stores throughout a city to cater to the people who don't have or otherwise don't use a car. Here's some exterior and interior shots of one of these small grocery stores, which is located in a residential area not far from the University of Agder--
In America, by contrast, grocery store chains set up stores that are much larger and farther apart--the additional distance doesn't bother Americans, since an extra few miles to the store only means a few more minutes driving.
The greater reliance on public transportation, walking, and bikes helps explain why the average Norwegian only uses about 1.9 gallons of gas per day, as compared to the average American, who uses about two and a half gallons per day and probably helps account for why Norway has a lower obesity rate (11% of the male adult population and 8% of the adult female population) than that of the United States (31.1% of the adult male population and 33.2% of the adult female population).
The Norwegian urban layout, with its relative dearth of cars, may seem like a completely alien way of doing things to Americans today, but it actually is very similar to the geography of American cities eighty years ago. In the early twentieth century, relatively few Americans had cars, and residents of cities such as New York, Chicago, and St. Louis, got around by walking or by taking electric trolleys. As celebrated in the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis, ("Clang Clang Clang Went the Trolley!") Americans in the first half of the twentieth century used trolleys a lot--St. Louis had hundreds of miles of trolley track as of 1900. And to get from big city to big city, (say, Chicago to St. Louis) most people in the early twentieth century took steam trains. And to get from cities that were close to one another, one could take what were called interurban trains--so one could go from St. Louis, for example, to Lebanon, Illinois, via interurbans.
Back to Norway. In any case, the heavy gasoline taxes also help account for the fact that Norwegians generally drive smaller cars than do Americans. Here are some parked cars I photographed around here:
There are lots of compact cars, small sedans, and station wagons, but relatively few sport utility vehicles or pickup trucks. Tax policy again plays a role. As the father of one of Walter's soccer mates explained to me a few days ago, the government imposes high taxes on heavy cars and on cars whose engines have a lot of horsepower, raising their purchase prices. As a result, Norwegians are more reluctant to invest in big, heavy, vehicles.
At the same time, it's worth noting that a new shopping district located east of Kristiansand was clearly built to serve customers who arrive and depart by car. Here are some photographs I took when I visited a few days ago--the layout here is similar to the shopping district that one might find off an American interstate--lots of "big-box" style stores with plenty of parking space.
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In any case, the North Sea oil bonanza will come to an end at some point, as Norwegian oil production from the North Sea either has peaked, is peaking, or will peak soon. The following chart is from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a federal agency that tracks oil production around the globe:
Chart from: http://www.eia.gov/countries/country-data.cfm?fips=NO#pet
Norwegians, aware that their oil will dry up at some point, have used the oil revenues to create a special national savings account, called the sovereign wealth fund, which is worth more than 400 billion U.S. dollars. Basically, it's money designed to cushion the economic blow when the North Sea oil runs out.
Notes on sources:
Information on energy production and consumption came from the U.S. Energy Information Administration website and from the CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/) The CIA Factbook is filled with valuable statistical information on countries around the world.
Information on obesity rates came from the World Health Organization country-by-country downloadable guides: http://www.who.int/countries/en/
