roduction and drive world oil
prices even higher.
2004 Nov, Norway adopted new
rules that barred investments in its national Petroleum Fund “which
constitute an unacceptable risk that the Fund may contribute to
unethical acts or omissions."
(WSJ, 12/1/05, p.A11)
2004 Dec 5, It was reported
that the Norwegian firm Hydro and Qatar's state energy company
signed a deal to build one of world's largest aluminium plants in
the gas-rich Gulf state at a cost of three billion dollars.
2005 Jan 1, Norway was forecast
for 3% annual GDP growth with a population at 4.6 million and GDP
per head at $55,290.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.89)
2005 Feb 22, It was reported
that Norway finished 2004 with the world’s best performing equities
market, based on nominal return on equity investment in dollar
(WSJ, 2/22/05, p.C20)
2005 Mar 6, In Norway 3 works
by Edvard Munch were stolen from a hotel, the second theft of the
renowned Norwegian's art in less than seven months.
2005 Apr 13, Norway’s Statoil
ASA announced oil exploration drilling from the offshore rig Eirik
Raude has been shut down after its 3rd spill into ecologically
fragile Arctic waters in just over two months.
2005 May 23, The Norwegian
Petroleum Directorate announced a wildcat exploration well drilled
in the Norwegian Sea has made a promising natural gas strike,
although it was too early to say how large.
2005 May, Norway announced a
new biennial prize for science, the Kavli prize, funded by
philanthropist Fred Kavli to begin in 2008. Only the fields of
astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience would be considered for
the $1 million prize.
(Econ, 5/14/05, p.84)
2005 Jun 8, In Norway US
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his Norwegian counterpart
on signed an agreement allowing the US military to continue storing
2005 Jun 10, King Harald V of
Norway and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden met in the middle of the
Svinesund bridge and opened the span over a fjord south of Oslo.
2005 Jun 24, A Norwegian court
sentenced the pilot of a British Airways jet to six months in prison
for preparing to fly even though members of his crew were drunk.
2005 Aug 17, Norwegian
officials said 3 unarmed Polish researchers stranded on a remote
Arctic island were rescued by helicopter as polar bears were closing
in on them. The escape took place on an island in Norway's Svalbard
archipelago, about 650 miles from the North Pole.
2005 Sep 12, Norwegians lined
up at polling stations in what promised to be a close race between a
governing center-right coalition advocating lower taxes and a
left-leaning opposition that wants to spend more of the Nordic
nation's oil wealth on the welfare system. Jens Stoltenberg, head of
the Labor Party, and 2 allied parties won 87 of the parliament’s 169
(AP, 9/12/05)(Econ, 9/17/05, p.51)
2005 Sep 13, Norway's PM Kjell
Magne Bondevik, who presided over four years of unprecedented
prosperity fueled by high oil prices, said he will resign after a
left-wing opposition bloc won parliamentary elections.
2005 Sep, Henrik Syse (39),
professor of philosophy, began work as in-house ethicist for
Norway’s Petroleum Fund. His books included “Paths to a Good Life:
Philosophical Reflections on Everyday Ethics."
(WSJ, 12/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 10, In Norway Chief UN
nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei accepted the 2005 Nobel Peace
Prize, sharing the award with his International Atomic Energy Agency
for efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons. The other
Nobel Prizes were awarded in Sweden.
2006 Jan 1, Norway passed
legislation requiring every publicly traded company in Norway to
have 40% women on its board by Jan 1 2008.
2006 Jan 11, The British weekly
New Scientist said Norway is to build a "doomsday vault" in a
mountain close to the North Pole that will house a vast seed bank to
ensure food supplies in the event of catastrophic climate change,
nuclear war or rising sea levels.
2006 Jan 31, In the Economist
Intelligence Unit's biannual survey Oslo was reported to have
overtaken Tokyo as the world's most expensive city. Tokyo had held
the top spot for 14 years. Of 17 US cities featured in t