IMPORTANT: We are lowering the paywall on our site for our coverage of the McCrone Report today. We believe it is vitally important that everybody can access it. You can support us with a subscription here: www.thenational.scot/subscribe and make sure you pick up extra copies of the printed paper.
READ this and weep for what might have been …
If the people of Norway were the sort of men and women who gave up at the first setback, the Norwegian economic miracle of the past 50 years might never have happened.
READ MORE: The big Unionist cover-up: The history of the McCrone report
For it is a fact that in July 1966, when Esso’s Ocean Traveler – American, hence the spelling – oil rig came across the Atlantic to drill in the North Sea on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, the first well was virtually dry. It had no real recoverable oil or gas, despite the confident predictions that oil was plentiful.
Though it soon went home to the Gulf of Mexico, Ocean Traveler had made its mark, however, because it proved that there was some oil under the North Sea.
In the 1950s, the Norwegian Geological Survey wrote the following verdict to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “The chances of finding coal, oil or sulphur on the continental shelf off the Norwegian coast can be discounted.”
The huge gas field found at Groningen in The Netherlands in 1959 indicated otherwise, and the Norwegian government begin to issue licences for exploration in 1965. It wasn’t until 1969 that the purpose-built Norwegian semisubmersible rig Ocean Viking began drilling in an area thought to be the best chance for oil.
Even then Ocean Viking drilled 11 wells and found no recoverable oil before operators Phillips Petroleum decided on a 12th and final drilling procedure. On December 23, 1969, Phillips gave Norway its greatestever Christmas present – they announced that they had discovered the Ekofisk oil field some 200 miles south of Stavanger.
It turned out to be one of the largest offshore oil fields ever found and most people date the history of North Sea oil to that day.
READ MORE: This is what Westminster doesn't want you to read: The McCrone Report in full
The following October, BP found the Forties field in the UK Continental Shelf and the rest is history.
From the outset the Norwegians were determined to retain control of their oil. At first the Norwegian government took a 50% share in all oil fields and Statoil was set up as a nationalised entity.
Norway invested huge sums in developing the industrial ability to extract as much oil as possible and it remains a world leader in such technology to this day, earning huge sums for the Norwegian economy even now.
The 1973 oil crisis gave exploration a huge boost, and Norway, like Scotland, was ideally placed to benefit. Unlike the UK Government, which spent oil revenues on such things as social security, Norway set up a Sovereign Oil Fund known as the Government Pension Fund Global – they already had a Government Pension Fund Norway which invested heavily in the new oil industry.
Since 1990, that oil fund has accrued vast wealth for Norway, which owns 2.4% of all European stocks and shares. It has more than £1 trillion in assets, the equivalent of around £200,000 for every one of Norway’s 5.2 million people.
Helping to pay for the Norwegian social care system, the fund is one of the main reasons why Norway is consistently rated as one of the wealthiest nations on earth, while the UN rates Norway as the best place to live.
Even with such wealth, the Norwegian government stayed prudent. It was only in 2016 that they dipped into the fund for the first time. The fund also has an ethical council which, for example, forced the withdrawal of investment in tobacco companies. And Norway has only extracted 50% of its oil reserves.
Suffice to say that, had Scotland been independent in the 1970s, we could have had all of this and more.
Perhaps we still can.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here