It also estimates that around 300 000 people employed in the country directly and indirectly by the industry would lose their jobs. The Norwegian Oil and Gas Association has calculated that shutting down Norway’s petroleum industry from 2020 would mean the loss of NOK 140 billion in annual government revenues. We’ve got so used to this that we don’t even think about it.” “If oil disappeared tomorrow, that’s what would go – a society completely different from what it was in 1850 when we seriously began to exploit hydrocarbons. He lists these in order of importance as coal, then oil and finally gas and notes that all three are currently used simultaneously. Modern society rest on oil, emphasises chief economist Eirik Wærness at oil company Equinor: “Our entire prosperity, economic progress and economic system, and the whole communication system which allows us to visit each other in a completely different way than we did before, for example, are based on an economy with access to very efficient energy sources.” One barrel of crude oil, or 159 litres, equals 1 300 kilowatt-hours – enough to meet the energy needs of a Norwegian detached house for a month.Ī litre of petrol contains roughly 9.1kWh – sufficient to heat eight full buckets or 80 litres of water from room temperature at about 23☌ to boiling point. Hydrocarbons are extremely energy-intensive. Numerous other things which might have to be foregone include air travel, cosmetics, contact lenses, trainers, sportswear and shampoo – not to mention key medicines and hypodermic syringes. But would they manage without imported food? Norwegians may think they could adapt to such new circumstances, given electric cars, wind turbines and so forth. Others believe it would usher in idyllic conditions. Some people predict that phasing out oil rapidly might create a doomsday scenario. After 170 years, many are calling for its production to cease completely. Mineral oil is an energy-intensive and versatile liquid which humans have been exploiting on a large scale since the 1850s. Rune Solheim (text) and Egil Bjørøen (illustrations)
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