Has Equinor made Norway dependent on oil?

In a controversial decision this week, the UK government approved development of a huge new oil and gas field in the North Sea. The Rosebank oil and gas field is majority owned by the Norwegian state-owned energy company Equinor.

Following this news, Alasdair talked to Professor Jonas Fossli Gjersø (University of Stavanger) about the history of Equinor - previously Statoil - and the way it has shaped Norway's economy, history, and environmental policy.

Audio production by Vasko Kostovski.

Further reading:
• 'Britain approves huge, controversial oil and gas field in the North Sea (cnn.com/2023/09/27/energy/rosebank-oil-gas-fie…)', CNN, 27/9/23
• 'The Great Leap Offshore: Sino-Norwegian Relations and Petro-Knowledge Transfers, 1976–1997 (cambridge.org/core/journals/enterprise-and-soc…)' by Jonas Fossli Gjersø in Enterprise and Society, 2022
• Commerce and politics: Statoil and Equinor 1972-2001 (universitetsforlaget.no/commerce-and-politics), Eivind Thomassen, 2022
• 'Norway wants to lead on climate change. But first it must face its legacy of oil and gas (vox.com/22227063/norway-oil-gas-climate-change)', Vox, 15/1/21
• 'A greener shade of black? Statoil, the Norwegian government and climate change, 1990—2005 (tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03468755.2021…)' by Ada Nissen in Scandinavian Journal of History, 2021
• Det svarte skiftet (cappelendamm.no/_det-svarte-skiftet-eivind-tra…), Eivind Trædal, 2018 [Norweigan]
• 'A Short History of the Norwegian Oil Industry: From Protected National Champions to Internationally Competitive Multinationals' (cambridge.org/core/journals/business-history-r…) by Helge Ryggvik in Business History Review, 2015
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