Lebanon might be heading towards a future as an oil and gas exporting nation, if exploitable fields will be discovered in the coming explorations of the Lebanese Mediterranean seabed. This was one of the main themes of the “Energy for the Future” conference, held at the Gefinor Rotana Hotel in Beirut last week. Ambassador Aud Lise Norheim was invited to hold a speech in the opening session of the conference.
With the future prospects in mind, Lebanon might benefit from experiences made by other nations, such as Norway. Norway discovered oil in the North Sea in the late sixties, and has since then managed to avoid many of the common traps associated with rich natural resources. In stead, oil revenues have helped Norway consolidate a solid welfare system and provide for economic and financial predictability.
Norway now uses its experience to help other countries maximizing their benefits from oil and gas resources. This is done through the Oil for Development (OfD) programme, and this programme was the theme of Ambassador Norheim’s speech.
Read an abstract of the speech here.
In the speech she gave an introduction to the OfD worldwide, and some details of the OfD’s involvement specifically. She stressed that the programme aimed at helping developing countries, on their own request, manage their petroleum resources “in a way that generates economic growth, and promotes welfare of the whole population in an environmentally sustainable way”.
See the PowerPoint presentation here.