Income tripled as high oil and gas prices bring record profits to Norway

Revenue tripled
High oil and gas prices bring record profits to Norway

Norway benefits enormously from the consequences of the Ukraine war. The country is now one of the most important gas exporters in Europe. This ensures high profits. Good thing: Norway now wants to increase its payments for Ukraine aid by several billion euros.

In 2022, Norway again benefited greatly from the sharp rise in oil and gas prices as a result of the Ukraine war. The statistics institute SSB estimates that the state’s corresponding income has increased to the equivalent of 131 billion euros. Revenues were already increasing a year earlier, but in 2022 they have tripled in comparison.

The fact that Russia reduced its gas supplies to Europe enabled Norway to rise to become the largest supplier on the continent. In the summer of 2022, gas prices had reached record levels. The state once earned because it has a direct interest in oil and gas wells and pipelines, and through higher taxes paid by the energy companies. The energy company Equinor, which is 67 percent state-owned, also paid out lavish dividends.

For a long time, Russia was Germany’s largest gas supplier. That has changed since the war of aggression against Ukraine. Over the past year, Russia has gradually reduced exports. It finally came to a halt in September. That changed the market situation. Germany, but also the EU, increased imports from Norway.

The country now covers more than 30 percent of Germany’s natural gas needs, around a quarter of Europe’s, like the Figures from the European Council show. The higher demand developed into a price driver, and higher prices in turn led to higher profits. The extent to which price speculation played a role is controversial among economists.

Norway wants to support Ukraine even more

Norway’s high profits led to accusations last year that the country was a “war profiteer”. The Norwegian government firmly rejects this. Last year she gave Ukraine one billion euros for civil and military aid; in the next five years Oslo wants to give a further 6.8 billion euros.

That was not always so. In the summer of 2022, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki complained that Norway was benefiting from Putin’s war: “Dear Norwegian friends, that’s not normal, that’s not fair,” he said, as reported by the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. Norway initially rejected demands for further payments. This attitude has now changed.

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