Oil for Development 2008 [annual report]

What Oil for Development is About

The international financial crisis has reminded us of an essential challenge for oil and gas producing countries: Managing the booms and busts. Robust institutions, a long term perspective and realistic expectations among the various stakeholders are required to achieve this. Ultimately Norway and other petroleum producers will
have to rely on new forms of income generation. We have to use the resources in the ground wisely to build our
capacity to meet this challenge. And we cannot afford to destroy the environment in a hunt for quick money.

Oil should be a blessing, not a curse. Government  should use petroleum revenues to provide essential services for the many, and not line the pockets of the few; local communities should experience new economic opportunities from petroleum activities, and not the destruction of their livelihoods through environmental degradation; countries rich in petroleum should prosper, and not slide into violent conflict and political chaos.

Norway has wide expertise in the field of petroleum sector management. Our administration of natural resources and resulting revenues has attracted considerable international attention. Many developing countries want to learn from our experience.

The Norwegian Government's "Oil for Development" initiative focuses on resource management, revenue management and environmental management. We mainly build capacity within government institutions, because a competent public sector is crucial in ensuring good governance of the petroleum sector.

However, we also support civil society and media. These organizations must be strong enough to monitor their governments.

Demand for Norwegian assistance with petroleum sector management is growing rapidly, and Norway now cooperates with more than 25 countries, mostly bilaterally, but also through regional and multilateral initiatives. Each country has its own particular challenges and there are no "quick fixes".

Our goal is to enable our cooperating countries to manage their petroleum resources without our assistance. Vietnam has now reached that point, and we are gradually scaling down our capacity building activities. However, getting there has required more than 20 years of cooperation, strong political will, and complex cross-cultural efforts. Oil for Development is an important part of Norway's international development efforts and will continue to be so in the years to come.