The importance of collaboration
The petroleum industry in Norway must be prepared for tightened competition in the future, where the producers with low costs and low CO2-emissions are likely to be the winners. OG21 believes more collaboration between players in the Norwegian petroleum industry will be essential to succeed.
We have a long tradition for collaboration on petroleum R&D in Norway. The industry organizes its own Joint Industry Projects, and many of the projects that get public funding are required to engage co-funding partners in the industry. This practice has several advantages: It secures dissemination of knowledge in the industry cluster; it makes the R&D in the research organizations relevant for the industry, which is motivating for the researchers; and it provides the industry access to state-of-the-art research.
The average field size on the NCS is decreasing and the average production license has less economic incentive and time window for technology development than some of the large discoveries developed earlier. Many licenses do however share the same challenges which new technology could solve. It is therefore imperative that the industry succeeds in viewing technology implementation at scale and across portfolios of projects.
Recommendation: The larger oil companies need to have a portfolio rather than a project approach to new technology, Petoro should advocate for technology collaboration across the wide range of licenses they are involved in, and the NPD and the PSA should leverage their influence on technology development and adoption in licenses.
