Energy account and energy balance, 2001, preliminary figures

Within households and services, the energy consumption rose by 6 per cent compared with the previous year. This is partly due to warmer weather in 2001 compared with 2000. Still, the temperature in 2000 was higher than normal. According to information from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, the temperature was 0.3 degrees above the climatic normal from 1961-1990. However, the temperature in 2000 was 1.5 degrees above normal. Especially the consumption of electricity increased within households and services, even if the electricity price rose considerably in 2000. The total electricity price to households, inclusive taxes was 62.3 øre/kWh in 2001, 24 per cent above the level from the previous year, and the highest electricity price ever. The electricity price also rose considerably for other consumer groups. Nevertheless, the total consumption of electricity rose by 3 per cent from the previous year.

Lower energy consumption in the manufacturing industries

Within manufacturing, mining and quarrying, the energy consumption in 2001 decreased by about 3.5 per cent [corrected 27.03.02] compared with 2000. This is probably due to lower production and lower prices for some manufacturing industries. Consumption of electricity in the manufacturing industries was reduced by 3 per cent. To a large degree this is due to reduced consumption within the energy-intensive manufacturing. The consumption of oil products rose considerably in the manufacturing industries, by about 9 per cent from the previous year. This might be explained by the fact that manufacturing industries partly can replace electricity with oil, if this is profitable. The prices also increased on some oil products last year, but the rise was relatively lower than for electricity. The list price of light heating oil inclusive taxes rose by 3.7 per cent, while the list price on heating kerosene rose by 2.7 per cent. The prices of gasoline and auto diesel dropped by 10 and 13 per cent respectively last year, partly because of lower taxes. This contributed probably to a 4 per cent rise in the gasoline consumption last year, compared with 2000. The consumption of auto diesel also increased. The total consumption of petroleum products rose by about 4 per cent in 2000.

Increased production of energy

The consumption of coal and coke was reduced by 13 per cent from the previous year, Reduced activity in the manufacturing industries might be an explanation to this development. The production of coal was record high, and came to 1.5 million tons, and was more than doubled from 2000. Most of this was exported. The increase is due to an essential extension of the coal production on Svalbard from September last year, and that the production limit on 400.000 tons was abolished in 2000. The total production of primary energy bearers rose by 1.3 per cent from 2000. This is mainly due to an increase in production of natural gas and crude oil by 6 and 1 per cent respectively, in addition to increased production of coal. The production of electricity was reduced by 15 per cent from the unusually high level in 2000, mainly because of less precipitation and lower water level in the water reservoirs.

Tables:

• Table 1 Energy sources balance sheet for Norway. 2001. Preliminary figures
• Table 2 Energy sources balance sheet for Norway. 2000. Preliminary figures
• Table 3 Energy balance for Norway. 2001. Petajoule = 10 joule. Preliminary figures
• Table 4 Energy balance for Norway. 2000. Petajoule = 10 joule. Preliminary figures