Arctic Oil and Public Finance: Norway’s Lofoten Region and Beyond

This study explores potential implications of Arctic oil and gas exploration for public finance, with the Norwegian Lofoten region as a valuation case. A model is calibrated to turn oil and gas resource estimates into projections for investment, production, and net cash flows, which are discounted t...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Energy Journal
Main Author: Mohn, Klaus
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: IAEE 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3046301
https://doi.org/10.5547/01956574.40.3.kmoh
Description
Summary:This study explores potential implications of Arctic oil and gas exploration for public finance, with the Norwegian Lofoten region as a valuation case. A model is calibrated to turn oil and gas resource estimates into projections for investment, production, and net cash flows, which are discounted to assess the direct impact for the government budget. With the Norwegian oil fund mechanism and fiscal policy rule, Lofoten oil and gas revenues could add fiscal capacity in the range of 0.1-2.4 per cent of the current government budget, implying a permanent increase in annual government spending (or tax relief) of 24-220 USD per capita. Corresponding implications for other resource-rich countries in the Arctic depend on their resource potential and the relative role of oil and gas in their economy. publishedVersion