Nor-Shipping is hosting its first-ever Agenda Offshore conference as the shipping industry increasingly moves offshore to service the oil and gas industry.
In fact, more than 60 percent of the members of the Norwegian Shipowners Association are now involved in offshore activities.
Hotspots like Brazil, the world’s fastest growing offshore market, are looking to Norway for technological know-how as many new oil and gas discoveries are being made in deep waters far away from shore, requiring cutting-edge technology and sophisticated equipment and vessels.
"New offshore technologies that have been developed in Norway over the last 30 years grew out of a need to enable profitable development of Norwegian offshore fields," said Rune Norseng, Regional Director for Brazil and Canada at INTSOK, an organization of Norwegian oil and gas partners. "This has put the Norwegian supplier industry in a strong position in the global market."
About half of the turnover generated by Norwegian oil and gas suppliers comes from exports of goods and services, which were worth about 120 billion kroner in 2009, according to Norseng. Their share of the global market is about 14 percent, and Norway also has the world’s second-largest fleet of offshore service vessels.
Chief Executive Officer Shamsul Azhar Abbas of Petronas, the Malaysian state oil and gas company, has said Petronas hopes to work with Norwegian companies to leverage their expertise in deepwater operations.
Brazil also hopes to benefit from Norway’s expertise as it aims to become a new major hub for cutting-edge offshore technology.
Last year Petrobras was by far the company that handed out the most contracts to Norwegian owners of offshore service vessels. It awarded contracts to 30 Norwegian-owned ships, a far cry from runner-up Statoil ASA, which gave contracts to only 7 vessels, according to calculations by www.petromaritim.no. DOF ASA and Siem Offshore Inc. were the biggest winners.