Norwegian government off target on industry predictions

Norway

STAVANGER, June 11, 2015 – The Norwegian government has come under fire after it was revealed that it had used outdated statistics to judge the development of the country’s hydrocarbons industry.

Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Finance Minister Siv Jensen had said there would be a large decline in development offshore Norway. They called for an increase in productivity from the other sectors of the economy.

One key oversight was the failure to mention the Johan Sverdrup field project in the North Sea now under development.

The arguments were based on a report from the Productivity Commission of 2015, which drew data from the Ministry of Finance’s Statistics Norway division reports from 2013.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate now predicts that petroleum production will remain steady for the next 15 years.

One reason why the conservative government may have decided to use this data is that it may help them push through controversial reforms, including tax cuts for industry.

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