The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) and the country’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) will be renamed at the beginning of next year.
The NPD will become the Norwegian Offshore Directorate and the PSA will become the Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority as of 1 January.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store travelled to Norway’s energy capital, Stavanger, to make a formal announcement, according to an NPD statement on Friday.
“We’re living in the energy age rather than the oil age,” Store said at a town-hall meeting with employees of the two agencies. “The names of these bodies must reflect who we are and what we’re doing”.
“These name changes are a recognition of the important work done by the directorate and the authority in developing transport and storage of carbon dioxide, offshore wind and seabed minerals,” Store said.
NPD director general Torgeir Stordal said: “Today is a red-letter day. It’s a day we’ll all remember. The new name reflects the considerable range of tasks we’ve been entrusted with linked to activity on the Norwegian shelf.”
“We have a shelf that is enormously rich in resources. Not only do we have oil and gas for a long time to come, we also have significant capacity to store carbon dioxide, as well as good wind resources. Not to mention that we’ve also identified a potential for considerable mineral resources,” he added.
Petroleum Safety Authority director general Anne Myhrvold said: “This new designation points our way forward. We will be a strong and clear safety authority for both existing and forthcoming industrial operations offshore.”
The NPD has been mapping potential carbon dioxide storage sites on the Norwegian shelf and assists the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in facilitating further development in transport and storage of CO2, according to Store.
It is also looking at the opportunities presented by extraction of seabed minerals required for the energy transition and to reduce Norway’s dependence on importing them, predominantly from China.
The Petroleum Safety Authority is currently establishing health, safety and environmental regulations for offshore wind projects in the country, according to Store.
The NPD quoted Store as saying that both NPD and the PSA “play important roles in the crucial effort to further evolve the Norwegian shelf, both within oil and gas as well as new industries”.
Source: https://www.upstreamonline.com/