Electricity prices in Southern Norway hit highest levels since 2022
In August, electricity prices in Southern Norway surged to levels not seen since the 2022 energy crisis, according to an analysis by business daily E24.
The southernmost region (Agder, Rogaland and parts of Telemark) averaged 1.42 kroner per kWh, while Oslo and Eastern Norway saw an average of 1.32 kroner per kWh.
“Low reservoir levels and high gas prices meant that we experienced high prices. The gas price averaged over €60 per megawatt-hour, something we have not seen since the 2022 energy crisis, and higher than prices last winter,” said analyst Eivind Samseth at Volt Power Analytics.
In a separate report, E24 indicated that water reservoirs in the far south are at their lowest seasonal levels in at least 30 years (lower than during the severe drought of 1996).
Analysts say prices will likely stay high through autumn and winter. “Prices are expected to ease when the situation in the Middle East settles down, allowing gas markets to normalise,” Samseth added.
Norwegian vocabulary: snittprisen - the average price
Norway seizes Russian ship to compensate Ukraine firm
Norway seized a Russian cruise vessel in the Arctic at the demand of Ukrainian state energy group Naftogaz as compensation for asset seizures, the company said on Wednesday.
Naftogaz said in a statement that authorities seized the Professor Molchanov in Norway's Svalbard archipelago under a Norwegian court order. Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten cited a Svalbard police official as confirming the move.
The seizure aimed at enforcing an arbitration ruling that ordered Russia to pay around $4.2 billion to Naftogaz for illegally seizing assets following Moscow's annexation of the Crimea region in 2014.
The company's acting chief executive Sergiy Fedorenko in the statement called the Norwegian move "another important step towards restoring justice" over the seizures.
"We will continue to pursue Russian assets around the world until the compensation awarded to Naftogaz and other companies in the Naftogaz group has been paid in full," he said.
Vessel-tracking website VesselFinder indicated that the Professor Molchanov was anchored at Barentsburg, a mining settlement.
Russia now accuses Norway of piracy.
With reporting from AFP
Norwegian Vocabulary: å ta i arrest - to seize / to detain
Record number of homes for sale in Oslo
The number of used homes for sale in Oslo has reached a record high of 3,521 properties, which is a 32.4 percent increase compared to the same period last year, according to property portal Finn.
Eirik Dysthe, strategy manager and housing expert at Finn, told Norwegian daily VG that the increase is due to a mix of record listings, slower sales, and widespread price reductions.
This surge has created a distinct buyer’s market in the capital, where house prices dropped by almost 1 percent in the first seven months of 2026.
One in three listings has had its asking price lowered, and homes now take an average of 40 days to sell.
"In Oslo, I think prices will continue to fall and may end up 3 to 4 per cent down this year," Grethe Wittenberg Meier, CEO of Privatmegleren, told VG, adding that while nominal falls are modest, inflation makes the real drop higher, creating strong opportunities for first-time buyers.
Norwegian vocabulary: rekordmange - a record-high number of / record number of
Norwegian universities hit by cyberattacks
Several Norwegian universities and colleges have been targeted in a wave of cyberattacks, according to reports in VG.
The distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks were claimed by a pro-Russian hacker group calling itself 'Server Killers'. A DDoS attack is when many computers send so much traffic to a website that it crashes or becomes unavailable.
The group recently declared a "cyber war" on Norway, citing the country's continued support for Ukraine and new defence cooperation agreements.
According to the group, NTNU, the University of Tromsø, the University of Agder, the University of Innlandet, the University of Southeast Norway, the University of Oslo (UiO), NMBU and OsloMet have been affected.
Norwegian vocabulary: cyberkrig - cyber war
Posten Bring to cut over 300 jobs in major restructuring
Logistics group Posten Bring is cutting more than 300 staff and support roles by 2027 as part of a plan to reduce overall costs by 25 percent, according to trade union publication Fagbladet.
The state-owned group cited tough competition and demands for higher financial returns from the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
The group will now prioritise its core business within parcels, freight and warehousing, and will also use more artificial intelligence.
Norwegian vocabulary: å miste jobben - to lose one's job
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