Ormen Lange – key to responsible development in the North

(July 18, 2007) "Petroleum development in the Arctic regions involves greater demands with regard to technology, project management and new models of cooperation, if we are to secure responsible exploitation of the resources in the North," said Hydro's head of Russian business unit, Bengt Lie Hansen, during the JazzGass conference in Molde on Tuesday.

Global development is dependent on stable access to energy. This means that the hunt for undiscovered resources and remaining reserves is being intensified, in all the petroleum provinces in the world. Now, the North is attracting attention more frequently. Future developments in the Northern areas will face extremely complex problems, despite great resource potential.

THE KEY TO SHTOKMAN: Ormen Lange is the foremost reference project and source of experience for ensuring that Shtokman becomes a reality, said Bengt Lie Hansen, head of Hydro's Russia Business Unit, yesterday

"The Northern areas are a key region for future energy supply. Distances to the US market and to Europe are smaller than from the Middle East, while at the same time it is important for the USA and the EU to gain their supplies from other areas than this area," said Bengt Lie Hansen, head of Hydro's Russia Business Unit.

In the Northern areas, Russia is the country that stands out as having a huge resource potential. But Russia has limited experience with tackling the demanding Arctic offshore conditions, and the vulnerable natural surroundings that are found so far north.

"Shtokman stands out as an important project, which the Russians are now signalling that they want to develop by 2013. The foremost reference project and source of experience for ensuring that this becomes a reality is located in Norway, specifically Ormen Lange," said Lie Hansen.

"Shtokman will be a gigantic project, and it is our Norwegian expertise within technology development, project implementation and cooperation within the industry that can ensure that the project — which is significantly larger than the Ormen Lange development — can be implemented in a profitable and responsible way."