The Country That Became Too Rich

In today’s Sunday Times, Jim Armitage writes a striking piece about Norway and asks a question Britain increasingly struggles to answer.

Why did Norway get richer while Britain abandoned its Oil & Gas workers.

Norway did not shut the taps.

It kept investing in oil and gas, built one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, and quietly became one of the richest countries on earth.

Much of the gas Norway produces is sold to the UK and Europe. Britain imports energy from a country that got wealthy doing what we increasingly refuse to do ourselves.

What really caught my attention is this.

Norway is not just drilling new fields.

It is reopening old ones.

Last month, Oslo approved the reopening of three North Sea gas fields that had been shut for decades:

Albuskjell, Vest Ekofisk and Tommeliten Gamma.

At the same time, it approved new exploration acreage and continues backing projects like Yggdrasil, where old discoveries and previously uneconomic reserves are being tied together using new technology to make them commercially viable.

In one case, engineers reportedly unlocked a new discovery from an area mothballed since 2004.

Norway’s message seems clear:

If hydrocarbons still exist, make them cleaner, smarter and more productive.

Britain’s message often feels like the opposite.