By Jan Hagland, Director of information for the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

Production of oil in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea began on the Ekofisk field in 1971. Now, on the threshold of a new century, Norway holds the position of the world's second largest exporter of oil after Saudi Arabia and is expected to maintain this high level of production for several years to come. After all, the country has only reached the halfway point of its so-called Oil Age.