Oil and gas development: Does Norway do a better job than Alaska?

[Lars77]

Like Alaska, Norway is a petroleum province that brings in billions of dollars in annual revenues from oil and gas development. But important differences exist in how Alaska and Norway collect, save and spend their wealth, and issue oil and gas leases.

About one-third of Alaska's oil and gas revenues come from its royalty slice of production by private companies on state lands and waters. Norway doesn't take a royalty share of its oil and gas production. Instead, Norway makes all of its money by taxing the producers' profit - plus taking a substantial equity share in many projects, plus earning stock dividends from a government-controlled oil and gas company.

In another difference from Alaska, Norway doesn't award its oil and gas leases to the highest bidder. Rather, it awards leases to what the government determines is the best bidder, based on the company's experience, expertise and work plan to develop the field.

And unlike Alaska, which saves only a portion of its oil and gas revenues in its nearly $40 billion Permanent Fund and does nothing with the fund's investment profits but pay dividends to individual Alaskans, Norway deposits 100 percent of its oil and gas revenues into its sovereign wealth fund - worth about $540 billion as of late last month. It then withdraws an average of 4 percent a year to help pay for public services.

More: http://www.adn.com/2011/09/09/2059078/norway-can-teach-us-to-control.html


Also see this written in the Anchorage Daily News at the same date.
http://www.adn.com/2011/09/09/2059078/norway-can-teach-us-to-control.html

Seems they´ve recently been over to see how we "socialists" do it.

[Arctic Dave]

1. K&R

I missed the OpEd by bill walker. I see our neighborhood industry shill KearBear is working himself into a lather.


I would love it if we drifted to a more Norwegian model but I think the state legislators are looking more to "investment bank" with oil revenue. I would much prefer state oil Corp as contract manager myself.

[provis99]

2. and the Canadian province Alberta is even worse.

They charged virtually no royalty for years, and their Heritage Fund had at most $2 billion in it, which has now run out, since the "Texas of Canada" won't raise taxes and fix the damn broken infrastructure. Alberta had more oil than Norway, and it all went into the pockets of billionaires.

Yet Alberta is virtually a one-party state, with the Conservatives having a huge percentage of the vote. Conservatives are stupid where ever they are in the world.