Solberg launches strategy for the offshore industries

Bergen.Minister of Trade and Industry Monica Mæland(L), Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Minister of Fisheries Per Sandberg,and Ingvil Smines Tybring Gjedde Deputy Minister in the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. Photo: Emil Breistein / NTB scanpix

The government will in spring 2017, present a strategy on how it will create new jobs and more value in the offshore industries.

– The aim is to be at the forefront of global developments. Norway has a strong position in all major offshore industries, whether we are talking about oil and gas, shipping or fisheries, says Prime Minister Erna Solberg.

The government had previously prepared a maritime strategy and a master plan for marine science. Solberg points out that the marine and maritime industry together with oil and gas have been the economic centers of gravity for Norway. Common to them all is that they are offshore.

Operational
– We will therefore make a joint offshore strategy that will link together all these areas. The strategies will be presented next spring and be an action program for the years to come, the Prime Minister said, when she along with economics minister Monica Mæland (Conservative Party) and Fisheries Per Sandberg (Progress Party) launched the strategy, just before the opening of government offshore conference in Bergen on Monday

The strategy, according to Solberg, states how new initiatives will come and what bottlenecks must be overcome in order to exploit the resources of the sea.

The petroleum industry is by far the largest today in what the government defines as the Norwegian offshore industries. They currently employ more than 250,000 people and create an annual value of 850 billion. The OECD estimates that the offshore economies may double in 2030.

Pay taxes
The Prime Minister would not give specific figures on how many new jobs the government set as a goal in the overall offshore strategy.

– We need quite a few thousand jobs in the coming years in the industries that can pay taxes and finance the welfare system. These are areas where we have unique knowledge in Norway, and one of the areas where we can have the greatest synergies, and where we can get
new jobs the fastest, says Solberg.

Fisheries Minister Per Sandberg emphasizes that fish and seafood are an important part of the solution. The fishing industry looks to the oil sector in order to learn how it can use offshore technology.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today