In 1965, when Esso secured the first license from Oslo for offshore oil exploration, hopes ran high that the North Sea fields would provide a stable source of energy for the West-and a sta- ble source of income for Norway.

By the autumn of 1969, those hopes were fading. More than 200 exploratory wells dotted the seabed between Norway and Britain, and none had yielded enough petroleum to warrant commercial development.

In December, workers on the Phillips Petroleum drilling rig "Ocean Viking" suddenly struck oil 180 miles off the Norwegian shore, two miles beneath the ocean floor. By 1971, Phillips was extracting 40,000 barrels per day from "Ekofisk"-a dome-shaped formation of limestone eight miles long and four miles wide. Within a few years, the North Sea would rank second only to the Middle East in "proven oil reserves." One-third of those reserves were under Norway's waters.