Norway/UK seeking cross-border opportunities

Nick Terdre
Contributing Editor

The UK/Norway cross-border treaty, which both countries’ energy ministers signed this April, highlights the growing co-operation between the two sectors. Cross-border field developments like Blane, Enoch, and the Tampen Link are obvious recent examples, but the two countries are tapping into each other’s expertise in less publicized ways.

In April, representatives from the Grenland industrial region in southern Norway visited eastern England to learn how the local gas industry has developed. The Norwegian government has given the green light for construction of a gas-based industry in Grenland, the most ambitious scheme yet to promote domestic use of Norway’s gas reserves. A gas-fired power plant is one option under discussion.

“The UK has a lot to teach us about the domestic use of gas,” says Hans Peter Christophersen, counselor technology at Innovation Norway’s London office, who organized the trip with the East of England Energy Group. It included a visit to the combined cycle gas power station in Great Yarmouth. EEEG will also hold a seminar for Norwegian companies at Offshore Europe.

Norway has its own initiatives, such as Springboard UK, launched by Innovation Norway in 2003. This scheme helps start-up companies set up centers on technology parks in Britain, hopefully capitalizing on the thriving local technology environment and links to the marketplace. Bill Cattanach, head of the UK government/industry association Pilot, described Springboard as an important initiative for encouraging co-operation.

For oil and gas-related companies, the focus is naturally on Aberdeen, where nine Norwegian firms are now linked to the technology park. Others have set up bases elsewhere in the UK. As evidence of the success of the scheme, numerous companies recently have signed contracts such as Epcon Offshore with Chevron, Shell, and Kerr-McGee; Multicontrol with Schlumberger; and Mator with Total, Marathon, Kerr-McGee, and PGS. Another Norwegian `immigrant’, Amitec, is working closely with Diamond Offshore, Kerr-McGee, and GlobalSantaFe. More recent entrants to the scheme are Total Catcher Offshore, winner of the ONS Innovation Award 2004, Imenco, Kongshavn Industri, Miros, and Sørco.

A recent Innovation Norway survey indicates that 92 new UK sector fields could be developed in 2005-08, incurring a capex spend of NKr40-50 million/year. This prospect is proving attractive to small Norwegian companies, as is evident from the demand for space in the Norwegian pavilion at Offshore Europe - a record 28 firms will be exhibiting, 14 of them in the special incubator stand.•