The Minister of Petroleum and Energy ( no, Olje- og energiministeren) is a

councilor of state A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, ...

and chief of the

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Ministry of Petroleum and Energy The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy ( no, Olje- og energidepartementet) is a Norwegian ministry responsible for energy, including petroleum and natural gas production in the North Sea. It is led by Minister of Petroleum and Energy ...

. The current minister is

Terje Aasland Terje Aasland (born 15 February 1965, in Skien) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party (Norway), Labour Party. He has served as minister of petroleum and energy since 2022. He has also been an MP for Telemark (Storting constituency), Tele ...

. The ministry is responsible for the government's

energy policy Energy policy is the manner in which a given entity (often governmental) has decided to address issues of energy development including energy conversion, distribution and use as well as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in order to contri ...

, including management of Norway's energy resources, including the valuable deposits of

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

and

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewabl ...

. Major subordinate agencies and companies include the Water Resources and Energy Directorate, the Petroleum Directorate,

Petoro Petoro is a company that is wholly owned by the Government of Norway. Established in 2001, it manages the Government's portfolio—collectively called State's Direct Financial Interest (SDFI)—of exploration and production licenses for p ...

Gassnova Gassnova SF is the Norwegian state enterprise for carbon capture and storage Carbon capture and storage (CCS) or carbon capture and sequestration is the process of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) before it enters the atmosphere, transporting it, ...

Gassco Gassco is a Norwegian state owned company that operates of natural gas pipes transporting annually of 100 billion cubic meter (bcm) of natural gas from the Norwegian continental shelf to Continental Europe and Great Britain. 15% of the tot ...

, Enova,

Statnett Statnett is a Norwegian state owned enterprise responsible for owning, operating and constructing the stem power grid in Norway. The company has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway. Statnett also owns 30% of the Nord Pool Spot along with other Nor ...

and a partial ownership of

Statoil Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian state owned enterprise, state-owned multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger. It is primarily a petroleum company, petroleum company, operating in 36 countries with ad ...

. The position was created on 11 January 1978 as a response to the increased importance of oil on the

Norwegian continental shelf The Norwegian continental shelf ( no, Den norske kontinentalsokkelen) (abbreviated as NCS) is the continental shelf over which Norway exercises sovereign rights as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The area of the s ...

. The position was merged with the

Minister of Trade and Industry A Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and ...

between 1992 and 1996. The position has been held by seventeen people from five parties. No person has held the position for at least three years, resulting in one of the most volatile positions in the cabinet. Kåre Kristiansen holds the longest tenure, as one of six to have held the position for more than two years. The position has been a favorite of the Centre Party, who has claimed it in all

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

s they have participated in except Willoch II. The position has overall been held longer by the Centre Party than the Labour Party.

Key

The following lists the minister, their party, date of assuming and leaving office, their tenure in years and days, and the cabinet they served in.

Ministers

References

{{Ministers of Norway Petroleum and Energy