Keep those barrels flowing

With oil prices in free fall, OPEC has urged Norway to cut production.  Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said that ain’t happening. 

“Norway makes its own evaluations on an independent basis,” Støre said. He said Norwegian officials “of course” consult others, “but it’s Norway alone that makes these kinds of decisions.”

Translation: our state sovereignty is more important than trying to prop up oil prices.

(Coincidentally?) StatoilHydro announced new oil discoveries in its Visund field in the North Sea.

Maybe I should start dividing by 6?

When I moved here, it was hard to figure out how much things cost because I had to consider both the relative cost to other goods in Norway and the absolute cost to goods around the world (but particularly the US). 

For the former, I just kept paying attention to prices and shopping around and began to understand how much something was in Norway.  (For instance, a kebab will run you anywhere from 30 NOK to 50 NOK depending upon location and time of day.)  For the latter, I just divided the Norwegian prices by 5 to get a price in US dollars.  Looks like I might need to change that…

For the first time since May 2007, one dollar equals at least six Norwegian kroner.  On the down side, almost all of my money is now in kroner.  On the bright side, I can practice dividing by 6!