ABSTRACT
The extraction of oil and gas on the coast of Norway had already begun in the 1970s, triggering a surge in welfare, jobs, housing, transport, research, and education. Kristine Jorstad Bock became active in the community and in 1999 was elected Deputy Mayor representing the Labor Party. By the time Kristine took office in 2006, Norway had become the world's tenth biggest oil producer and its third biggest oil exporter behind Saudi Arabia and Russia. One of Norway's oldest cities, Hammerfest incorporated in 1789. Global oil-and-gas demands were projected to jump 50 percent over the next 25 years, crystallizing the possibilities for wealth in Norway. In the winter of 2009, Alf Jakobsen finished his duties in Oslo and was headed back to town to once again provide mayoral leadership for Hammerfest. She had been a proponent when the Norwegian government approved the efforts to extract oil and gas in Hammerfest, but Jakobsen had been the key decision-maker in those negotiations.
