1. Olav Akselsen was a Norwegian politician, who served six terms in the Norwegian Parliament for the Norwegian Labour Party, and was Minister of Petroleum and Energy in the first cabinet Stoltenberg from 2000 to 2001.
18 Facts About Olav Akselsen
1. 2.
Olav Akselsen graduated from upper secondary school in 1984, took his examen philosophicum course at the University of Bergen in 1986 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in geography in 1988.
3.
Except for a tenure as a carpenter between 1986 and 1987, Olav Akselsen had very little work experience outside of political life.
4.
Olav Akselsen was elected to the executive committee of the municipal council in his native Stord in 1983, was re-elected in 1987 but left in 1989 when entering the national parliament.
5.
Olav Akselsen was a member of the board of the regional Hordaland party chapter from 1986 to 1988.
6.
Olav Akselsen served on several public committees in Stord; pertaining to such matters as wild game, the environment, industry and equality.
7.
Olav Akselsen was the deputy chair of some of these committees.
8.
Olav Akselsen was first elected to the Norwegian Parliament in 1989, as the 14th representative from Hordaland county.
9.
The parliamentary opposition, including the Labour Party, held this to be necessary, and Olav Akselsen had marked himself as a strong supporter of natural gas power plants.
10.
Olav Akselsen viewed the power plant at Mongstad as especially important.
11.
However, in 2001 Olav Akselsen retracted a permission to drill for oil in the Norwegian Sea outside of Lofoten.
12.
Olav Akselsen had entered the same election, and was re-elected for his fourth term.
13.
From 1989 to 1993 Olav Akselsen was, within the parliament, mainly a member of the Standing Committee on Justice, chairing it from April 1993.
14.
Olav Akselsen was a member of the 37-member Election Committee.
15.
One year before the 2009 Norwegian parliamentary election, Olav Akselsen announced that he declined to stand for re-election.
16.
In late August 2008 Olav Akselsen was appointed director of the Norwegian Maritime Directorate, a position he took after his parliamentary term ran out in October 2009.
17.
Olav Akselsen resigned from the Norwegian Maritime Directorate in May 2021.
18.
Olav Akselsen was survived by his wife and three children.