Creating New Fairytales: Statoil, Snøhvit, and Petroleum Exploration in the Arctic

Authors

Melissa Gjellstad, University of North DakotaFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2014

Publication Title

Scandinavian-Canadian Studies

Volume

22

Abstract

This paper investigates the valorization of the process of oil extraction in the High North as exemplified in corporate films and marketing materials produced by Statoil, a global energy company based in Norway. In focus is the subsea instillation of Snøhvit [Snow White] in the Barents Sea, an innovation on the frontier of the energy industry in the Arctic. In dialogue with Stephanie Le Menager’s “feeling ecological” theory and work with petromodernity, this article analyzes Statoil’s discourse in landscape, oil capitalism, and ecology to offer an interpretation of the evolution of the subsea extraction narratives in the Arctic waters as a new chapter in oljeeventyret [the oil fairytale] that began in Norway over forty years ago.

First Page

66

Last Page

77

DOI

10.29173/scancan99

ISSN

2816-5187

Rights

First published in Scandinavian-Canadian Studies at:

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Melissa Gjellstad. "Creating New Fairytales: Statoil, Snøhvit, and Petroleum Exploration in the Arctic" (2014). Languages & Global Studies Faculty Publications. 4.
https://commons.und.edu/ll-fac/4