Norwegian Oil Market Concentration and its Effects on the Oil Service Companies 1993-2013

Abstract

This paper explores the effect of market concentration of the Norwegian oil production sector (NPS) on Norway's second-largest industry, the oilfield services companies (OFS). To capture this effect, we use the system generalized method of moments approach (GMM) to estimate an empirical model, spanning the period 1993–2013. The findings indicate that increased market concentration is consistent with lower profitability of the oilfield services companies, as the bargaining power of oil companies relative to service companies increases. Increased knowledge about this effect could contribute to improving strategies for the further development of these industries by stakeholders.