The lifeboat capsule
Sit inside as rig workers do.
Carlos Delgado โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ยท Zairon โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ยท This image is a work by Mercy. When reusing, please credit me as: Mercy from Wikimedia Commons. I would appreciate being notified if you use my work outside Wikimedia. Do not copy this image illegally โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ยท Hannes Grobe โ CC BY-SA 4.0
Before 1969 Norway was a relatively modest European farming-and-fishing economy โ the offshore Ekofisk field discovery turned it within two decades into an exceptional social welfare state: free education and healthcare, advanced infrastructure, and a sovereign fund holding stakes in thousands of global companies today, exceeding a trillion dollars โ every Norwegian citizen theoretically a millionaire by their fund share.
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The Petroleum Museum tells the story of how Norway got rich overnight: a giant metal structure shaped like a miniature offshore drilling platform on the harbour front, narrating the discovery of North Sea oil (1969) that turned a modest sardine-fishing nation into one of the world's richest countries per capita within a single generation โ Stavanger itself becoming Norway's Oil Capital for its geographic closeness to the fields. A real full-size drill rig is displayed, climbable, alongside a simulated offshore control room and a lifeboat capsule you can actually sit inside โ and the socially most important story: how Norway decided, unlike many other oil nations, to invest revenues into a giant sovereign wealth fund (today the world's largest such fund) rather than immediate spending, securing future generations' welfare. The museum also discusses with rare openness the environmental tension between oil wealth and the planet's climate โ a full hall devoted to energy-transition questions, balancing national pride with future concern.
Sit inside as rig workers do.
Open debate between wealth and climate.
Kjeringholmen, 4006 Stavanger