ENERGY SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Denmark may be known for many things, but I doubt that energy self-sufficiency is one of them. Yet it is a fact that it is the only country in the 28-nation E.U. that is self-sufficient in oil and gas. Add in the number of windmills dotted around the countryside, and its energy position is unusually promising.

True, it is not self-sufficient in the way that, say, Norway is. Yet the North Sea that provides its neighbour with so many riches (and which did the same for the U.K. some 30 years ago) has also been kind to the Danes. The Government gets a fair chunk of revenue from oil taxes, and the sector supports some 15,000 well-paid jobs. This is expected to rise to 29,000 by 2020 as extracting hydrocarbons from old fields requires more sophisticated engineering and analysis techniques.

The Government has recently raised taxes on oil and gas production, with the aim of securing an extra Dkr.27.billion that can be used exclusively on developing the country's rail network over the next decade. This may be smart politics, but industry insiders have warned that it may deter energy companies from investing in the oil sector. If you have a golden goose, then there is always a temptation to pluck it. Time will tell if the Danish Government is plucking it too hard.

Walter Blotscher