User:Kepanian/sandbox

In 2011, Norway was the eighth largest crude oil exporter in the world (at 78Mt), and the 9th largest exporter of refined oil (at 86Mt). It was also the world's third largest natural gas exporter (at 99bcm), having significant gas reserves in the North Sea.[2][3] Norway also possesses some of the world's largest potentially exploitable coal reserves (located under the Norwegian continental shelf) on earth.[4]

This abundant amount of natural resources within Norway, has given the country a lucrative revenue. Crude oil and natural gas accounted for 40% of the country's total export value in 2015. As a share of GDP, the export of oil and natural gas is approximately 17%. As a means to ensure security and mitigate against the “Dutch disease” characterized by fluctuations in the price of oil, the Norwegian government funnels a portion of this export revenue into a pension fund, the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG). The Norwegian government receives these funds from their market shares within oil industries, such as their two-thirds share of Statoil, and allocates it through their government controlled domestic economy. This combination allows the government to distribute the natural resource wealth into welfare investments for the mainland. Tying this fiscal policy to the oil market for equity concerns creates a cost-benefit economic solution towards a public access good problem in which a select few are able to reap the direct benefits of a public good. Domestically, Norway has addressed the complications that occur with oil industry markets in protecting the mainland economy and government intervention in distributing its revenue to combat balance-of-payment shocks and to address energy security. The externalities engendered from Norway’s activities on the environment, pose another concern than its domestic economic implications. Most of Norwegian gas is exported to European countries, 20% of European gas consumption is from Norway, and Norwegian oil supplies 2% of the global consumption of oil. Considering that three million barrels of oil adds 1.3 Mt of CO2 per day to the atmosphere as it is consumed, 474 Mt/year, the global CO2 impact of Norway’s natural resource supply is significant. Despite that Norway exports eight times the amount of energy in which it consumes domestically, most of Norway’s carbon emissions are from its oil and gas industry at 30% and from road traffic at 23%. To address CO2 emissions, the Norwegian government has taken different measures, including signing multilateral and bilateral treaties to cut its emissions in lieu of rising global environmental concerns.