Even In Norway, They're Talking About How America's Shale Boom Is Reshaping Geopolitics

Dagens Næringsliv The second story on Dagens Naeringsliv: "USA's game increases."

Now that we know America's shale boom is here to stay, how will it affect the rest of the world?

That question is front page news today for Norwegian business daily Dagens Naeringsliv ("Today's Market").

The very rough, Google-Translated headline on the article at right reads, "USA's game increases."

The "game" ("spillerom" in Norwegian) refers to energy geopolitics, and how the U.S.'s shale revolution is causing tectonic shifts in that arena, according to Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide.

"The shale revolution (in Norwegian, "Skiferrevolusjonen" — ed.) in the U.S. will very shortly allow it to become more self-sufficient in oil and gas," Eide says (again according to our edit of Google Translate). "That means they need less oil from the Middle East. As that falls, so will its interest in ensuring production and transportation of oil in the oil-rich countries of the Middle East and in the exposed waters around.

Instead, Eide says, the responsibility for ensuring steady crude flows from the Middle East will fall to countries like India and China. But Eide warns doing so "really is against their will, to take greater responsibility for world security."

Read the full Google-Translated version here >