The number of jobs related to the oil industry in Norway fell by 12.7 percent from 2015 to 2017 amid a sharp fall in oil prices from 2014 onwards, according to a recent report published by Statistics Norway.
Commissioned by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, Statistics Norway has calculated the spillover effects of the offshore petroleum industry in the mainland economy based on figures for 2015.
"Our study analyzes the effects of changes in demand from the petroleum industry by identifying which industries are responsible for deliveries to the petroleum industry," the office said.
According to Thursday's report, employment related to the oil industry in Norway fell from 7.1 percent in 2015 to 6.1 percent in 2017, corresponding to a loss of 24,800 jobs.
Of the 195,000 oil-related jobs in 2015, a minority was directly employed in the petroleum industry, while the majority was employed in other industries that supplied goods and services to the petroleum industry. The figure dropped to 170,200 last year.
"Weak profitability in the petroleum industry, especially in the wake of the sharp fall in oil prices from summer 2014, has led to reduced demand from the petroleum industry," the report said.
Demand in the oil industry has fallen every year since 2013, when the petroleum industry's resource consumption in terms of investment, product input and labor accounted for 13.5 percent of GDP for mainland Norway, compared to 8.9 percent in 2017, according to preliminary figures from national accounts, it added.
The oil industry is the largest in Norway, which is among the top 10 oil producers in the world.
By Hale Turkes
Anadolu Agency