The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate or OD is a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 government agency

Etat

Etat is a Norwegian state-, county- or municipal agency. An Etat is a subdivision of the administration, which has been given responsibility for a special area. An agency does not have a board of directors, but it does have a director, appointed by the subordinate organization. Normally decisions...

 responsible for the regulation of the petroleum

Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...

 resources on the Norwegian continental shelf

Norwegian continental shelf

The Norwegian continental shelf is the continental shelf over which Norway exercises sovereign rights as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea...

. Based in Stavanger

Stavanger

Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...

 it is to ensure that the petroleum resources are allocated in an optimal at the same time as they incur minimal environmental impact. It is subordinate the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy

Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy is a Norwegian ministry responsible for energy, including petroleum and natural gas production in the North Sea. It is led by Minister of Petroleum and Energy Ola Borten Moe...

.

History

The agency was created by Storting on July 14, 1972 with the responsibility of managing the petroleum resources. It was originally part of the Ministry of Industry

Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry is a Norwegian ministry responsible for business, trade and industry. It is led by Trond Giske . The department must report to the legislature, Storting.-History:The Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Shipping, Industry, Craft and Fisheries was created...

, but became part of the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy when it was created in 1978. From January 1, 2004 the division related to labour and safety issues was made a separate agency, the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway

Petroleum Safety Authority Norway

The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway is a Norwegian governmental supervisory authority under the Norwegian Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion. The PSA has regulatory responsibility for safety, emergency preparedness and the working environment in the petroleum activities in Norway...

, that became part of the Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion

Norwegian Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Labour is a Norwegian ministry established in 1916. It is responsible for the labour market, the working environment, pensions, welfare, social security, integration, immigration, asylum, minorities and the Sami...

. From the establishment in 1972 until 1997 the agency was led by Fredrik Hagemann

Fredrik Hagemann

Fredrik Hagemann is a Norwegian geologist and bureaucratHe was born in Andenes as the son of literary historian and literary critic Sonja Hagemann. He graduated with the cand.real. degree, and worked in the Norwegian Geological Survey from 1957 to 1966...

, from then until 2007 by Gunnar Berge

Gunnar Berge

Gunnar Berge is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party, born in Etne, Hordaland. Berge represented Rogaland in the Norwegian Parliament from 1969 to 1993. He was Minister of Finance 1986-1989, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development 1992-1996, as well as minister of Nordic...

, when Bente Nyland

Bente Nyland

Bente Nyland is a Norwegian geologist. She is Director General of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate from 1 January 2008, having been appointed by the Government of Norway in a cabinet meeting on 21 December 2007.-References:...

took over.