‘The Norwegians did it in the ’70s, we can do it today,’ says Kevin O’Leary on using gas and oil to pay off ‘our massive national debt’

Kevin O’Leary, a famous investor from “Shark Tank,” recently appeared on Fox News to discuss inflation. He also shared his belief that the United States could significantly reduce its national debt by tapping into its abundant gas and oil reserves, much like Norway did in the 1970s.

“We have this golden nugget in ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) that we could use to pay down our massive national debt, and it’s just sitting there waiting for policy,” he said. “What a huge potential, and it’s a proven reserve — the Norwegians did it in the ’70s. We could do it today.”

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Norway is famous for discovering large oil deposits in the North Sea in the 1970s. Instead of spending all the money at once, the Norwegian government created a special fund called the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), also known as the Oil Fund. The aim of this fund was to wisely manage the oil money to benefit current and future generations by investing in stocks, real estate, and renewable energy infrastructure, among other assets.

GPFG is currently one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. It is worth around NOK 18.730 billion (around $1.7 trillion) and holds stakes in almost 9,000 companies worldwide, including giants such as Apple, Nestlé, Microsoft and Samsung.

O’Leary’s idea could be a Hail Mary for a country struggling with high inflation and economic uncertainty. Using energy resources in this way could provide a significant economic boost without requiring higher taxes or big spending cuts. But for this plan to work, both political parties would have to support it and make changes to current energy policy.

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Oil Production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)

Oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is controversial. It is one of the last remaining wilderness areas in the U.S. and is home to a variety of animals, including polar bears, caribou, and migratory birds. Drilling for oil could harm these animals and disrupt their habitats. Extracting and using more fossil fuels would contribute to climate change, making it much harder to achieve environmental goals.

According to the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), the Gwich’in people, an indigenous group living near ANWR, rely on the caribou herds that live on the reservation for their way of life. They fear that oil drilling could threaten those herds and, in turn, their traditional way of life and food sources.

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On the other hand, proponents of drilling argue that extracting oil from ANWR could create jobs, generate revenue and make the U.S. more energy independent. And like O’Leary, some believe it could be used to bring the national debt under control.

Like many things in America, this issue is nothing short of highly politicized. Many Republicans support drilling because of its economic benefits, while many Democrats oppose it due to environmental and climate concerns.

Former President Donald Trump tried to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling. In 2017, his administration passed a law that included a plan to allow drilling in a part of ANWR that had been protected from such activity for decades. In 2020, the Trump administration moved forward with that plan, approving the opening of more than 1.5 million acres of the refuge’s coastal plain to oil and gas drilling.

However, when Joe Biden became president, his administration took steps to reverse Trump’s actions. In June 2021, they suspended issued oil and gas licenses.

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