Editing History of Norway (section)

==Oil Age==
[[File:StatfjordA(Jarvin1982).jpg|thumb|[[Statfjord]] oil platform]]
Prospecting in the [[North Sea]] started in 1966 and in 1969 [[Phillips Petroleum]] found oil in the [[Ekofisk]] field—which proved to be among the ten largest fields in the world. Operations of the fields was split between foreign operators, the state-owned [[Statoil]], the partially state-owned Norsk Hydro and [[Saga Petroleum]]. Ekofisk experienced a major [[blowout (well drilling)|blowout]] in 1977 and 123 people were killed when the [[Alexander L. Kielland (platform)|Alexander Kielland]] accommodation rig capsized in 1980;<ref>Stenersen: 155</ref> these incidents led to a strengthening of petroleum safety regulations. The oil industry not only created jobs in production, but a large number of supply and technology companies were established. [[Stavanger]] became the center of this industry. [[Taxation in Norway|High petroleum taxes]] and dividends from Statoil gave high income from the oil industry to the government.<ref name="s156">Stenersen: 156</ref>

Norway established its [[exclusive economic zone]] in the 1970s, receiving an area of {{convert|2000000|km2|sp=us}}.<ref name="s156" /> A series of border disputes followed; agreements were reached with Denmark and Iceland in the 1990s,<ref name="s158">Stenersen: 158</ref> but the border in the [[Barents Sea]] was not agreed upon until 2010.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE63Q14D20100427?type=marketsNews |title=Russia and Norway strike Arctic sea border deal |first1=Denis |last1=Dyomkin |first2=Gwladys |last2=Fouche |date=27 April 2010 |work=Reuters |access-date=27 April 2010 |archive-date=30 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930042411/http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/04/27/norway-russia-barents-idUSLDE63Q14D20100427?type=marketsNews |url-status=live }}</ref> Between 1973 and 1981 the country was ruled by the Labor Party, who carried out a series of reforms such as new school system. Farmers received increased subsidies and from 1974 women were permitted to inherit farms.<ref name="s158" /> [[Abortion in Norway|Abortion on demand]] was legalized in 1978.<ref>Stenersen: 159</ref> Loans guaranteed in future oil income allowed Norway to avoid a recession during the mid-1970s. But by 1977 high wages had made Norwegian industry uncompetitive and a soaring forced cut-backs in public and private spending.<ref name="s162">Stenersen: 162</ref> [[Fish farming]] became a new, profitable industry along the coast.<ref>Stenersen: 173</ref>

[[File:Alta-damm.jpg|thumb|left|[[Alta Power Station]], built despite [[Alta controversy|massive protests]]]]
An immigration surplus was established in the late 1960s, largely from Western Europe and the United States—from the 1970s increasingly expertise in oil. The period also saw an increased immigration of unskilled labor from developing countries, especially [[Pakistani Norwegians|Pakistan]], and Oslo became the center-point of immigration, although regulations from 1975 slowed this significantly.<ref name="s162" /> The [[Alta controversy]] started in the 1970s when [[Statkraft]] planned to dam the [[Alta River]]. The case united the environmental and Sami interest groups; although [[Alta Power Station]] was built, the issue shifted the political climate and made large-scale hydroelectricity project difficult to built. The [[Sami Parliament of Norway|Sami Parliament]] was established in 1989.<ref>Stenersen: 164</ref>

The Conservative Party won the [[1981 Norwegian parliamentary election|1981 elections]] and carried out a large [[deregulation]] reform: taxes were cut, local private radio stations were permitted, cable television was established by private companies, regulations on borrowing money were removed and foreigners were permitted to buy securities. An economic crisis hit in 1986 when foreigners started selling Norwegian krone, which ultimately forced an increase in taxes and Prime Minister [[Kåre Willoch]] was forced to resign.<ref>Stenersen: 165</ref> The [[Progress Party (Norway)|Progress Party]], located to the right of the Conservatives, had its break-through in the late 1980s.<ref>Stenersen: 167</ref> The high wages in the oil industry made low-skill manufacturing industries uncompetitive and the Labor Party closed a number of public industrial companies which were receiving large subsidies.<ref>Stenersen: 168</ref> The 1980s saw a trebling of people on disability, largely amongst the oldest in the workforce, and the [[crime rate]] rose.<ref>Stenersen: 171</ref>

The subsea [[Vardø Tunnel]] opened in 1982<ref>Thuesen: 394</ref> and since the country has [[List of subsea tunnels in Norway|built subsea tunnels]] to connect island communities to the mainland. From the 1980s, the largest cities introduced [[toll road|toll rings]] to finance new road projects.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ieromonachou |first1=P. |last2=Potter |first2=S. |last3=Warren |first3=J. P. |date=1 September 2006 |title=Norway's urban toll rings: Evolving towards congestion charging? |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X06000047 |journal=Transport Policy |language=en |volume=13 |issue=5 |pages=367–378 |doi=10.1016/j.tranpol.2006.01.003 |issn=0967-070X |access-date=27 October 2022 |archive-date=17 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017115634/http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X06000047 |url-status=live }}</ref> A banking crisis hit Norway in the late 1980s, causing the largest banks, such as [[Den norske Bank]], [[Christiania Bank]] and [[Fokus Bank]], to be [[nationalized]].<ref name="dereg">{{cite web |url=http://www.oecd.org/regreform/32682052.pdf |title=Regulatyr Reform in Norway |publisher=[[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] |year=2003 |access-date=20 November 2012 |archive-date=9 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309052245/http://www.oecd.org/regreform/32682052.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Norsk Data]], a manufacturer of [[minicomputers]], became Norway's second largest company by 1985,<ref>Steine: 16</ref> just to go bankrupt by 1993.<ref>{{cite news |title=Landet rundt TBK overtar Dolphin |work=[[Aftenposten]] |date=24 December 1993 |page=11 |language=no}}</ref> Unemployment reached record-high levels in the early 1990s.<ref name="s174">Stenersen: 174</ref>

By 1990, Norway was Europe's largest oil producer and by 1995 it was the world's second-largest oil exporter.<ref name="s156" /> Membership in the [[European Union]] was rejected in a [[1994 Norwegian European Union membership referendum|1994 referendum]], with Norway instead joining the [[European Economic Area]]<ref>Stenersen: 172</ref> and later also the [[Schengen Area]].<ref>Stenersen: 175</ref> Large public investments in the 1990s were a new [[Rikshospitalet|National Hospital]] and [[Oslo Airport, Gardermoen]]—connected to the capital with Norway's first high-speed railway, the [[Gardermoen Line]].<ref name="s174" /> A number of large government companies, such as [[Statoil]], [[Telenor]] and [[Kongsberg Gruppen|Kongsberg]] were privatized.<ref name="dereg" /> [[Lillehammer Municipality|Lillehammer]] hosted the [[1994 Winter Olympics]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lillehammer.kommune.no/links/113598 |title=An Olympic Fairy Tale |last1=Hove-Ødegård |first1=Arne |last2=Celius |first2=Sten |last3=Brun |first3=Ivar Ole |publisher=Lillehammer Municipality |year=2004 |access-date=11 December 2010 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5uv6grx5a?url=http://www.lillehammer.kommune.no/files/75261/ |archive-date=12 December 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The end of the [[Cold War]] resulted in cooperation with Russia and reduced military activity.<ref>Stenersen: 176</ref>