While that sounds like an alluring narrative (ie. oil executive from country that squandered oil windfall convinces country that recently discovered oil not squander its oil windfall), I doubt that's how it actually played out. "Investing oil windfall rather than blowing it" isn't exactly a novel idea that only a former Iraqi petroleum executive can come up with. I'm sure other people in government must have had the same idea. Meanwhile the article itself only says this with regards to his involvement:

>He was an instrumental force behind the Norwegian government's decision to establish a national oil company, StatOil, and an independent industry regulator.

While I don't doubt he played a non-zero role in making it happen, I'd expect more details about his involvement (eg. meetings with ministers) if he actually played a significant role.