Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure for me to visit Angola for the first time. Our two countries share many common interests in the petroleum sector, and we have been collaborating in this field for a long time.

I am pleased to see so many of you here today to discuss the important issue of developing domestic industries related to oil and gas. I would like to share with you some of our Norwegian experience regarding this aspect.

Angola will in the next years see its oil and gas production grow substantially. This will further position Angola as one of the leading oil producers in the world.

The reform agenda in Angola is impressive, but also challenging. Angola deserves full support from the international society in its efforts to reduce poverty and improve the basic social services, including health and education.

The oil and gas sector can be a powerful engine for development of the economy, for strengthening industrial capabilities and employment, and for enhancing the technological and competence basis, as we have seen in Norway. The potential for such development is substantial also in Angola.

In Norway the petroleum sector has become our largest industry. It accounted for 21 per cent of the gross domestic product in 2004. About 75 000 are employed in the Norwegian petroleum industry today.

Last year our oil production amounted to 3, 2 million barrels per day. With little domestic consumption we are the third largest exporter of oil in the world.

We have organised our petroleum activities based on some main principles:

• The state is the resource owner, but companies are awarded equity ownership through licences
• The state acts as a regulator of the oil and gas activities, developing the framework conditions
• A broad participation of international and national oil companies

The Norwegian oil and gas resources are part of our national wealth. It has always been a consensus among our political parties that the society as a whole should benefit from the depletion of these resources.

The goal of our oil and gas policy has been to maximise value creation. The licensing system has been a main instrument. An important element in the licensing system has been to attract the best of international expertise and competence.

The Norwegian Continental Shelf has offered immense challenges due to deep waters and harsh weather conditions. A lot of innovation has taken place. The Norwegian Continental Shelf is often referred to as a laboratory for the development of solutions and technologies, giving Norwegian industry a unique basis for internationalisation.

Angola is receiving significant Norwegian oil industry investments due to the discoveries where Statoil and Hydro are participating. Few other countries are as important to the Norwegian oil industry as Angola. Norwegian experience and technology has proved to be competitive. As is well known, the Norwegian subsea suppliers have been very successful, and other companies have shown remarkable growth in their activities.
The Norwegian based companies FMC Kongsberg Subsea, Aker Kværner, and Vetco Aibel have a large share of the subsea contracts in Angola. They are expanding their onshore activities as well. Significant portions of the contracts will be executed in Angola, where equipment will be fabricated at various facilities.

The Norwegian companies are making valuable contributions, also in following local content requirements and in developing local competence.

A good example of this is the "train-the-trainers" project at the National Petroleum Institute - INP - in Sumbe. Norwegian industry, in cooperation with the organisation of Norwegian Oil and Gas Partners, Intsok, as well as Norwegian authorities have cooperated with the INP in establishing a new subsea teaching-module being taught within the existing 4-year's programme at INP along with the existing educational programme. The project has involved training of four teachers from INP as well as development of new training manuals.

The first 30 students graduated in December 2004, and a similar number of new students have now been given their chance. The first graduated students were all offered jobs in the oil industry.

There is a clear need for locally recruited competent people to be employed in the oil and gas sector in Angola. The Norwegian based subsea companies have all seen the need to assist Angola in educating young people with relevant skills and training to be employed in the companies.

The Norwegian Government is supportive of the industry’s efforts, and closer business relationships will also lead to closer relationship between our two nations.

Transforming the oil and gas wealth into economic growth is a challenge in several of the markets where the Norwegian industry is building business relations. We see a clear trend that Governments desire to maximise the benefits from the oil and gas activities, including local employment and focusing on local supplier development. We want to support these efforts, and believe that there are large opportunities in a close co-operation between international companies and local competencies. We know from our own oil and gas history how important it is to fully realise the potential offered by developing oil and gas resources.

Sonangol's work preparing a special legal framework aimed at promoting the participation of Angolan companies in onshore and shallow water production is important, as is other processes within Sonangol where the theme of local content is undergoing a sincere development.

Angola has the opportunity to develop a local industrial base with the capabilities and competence required by the oil companies.

Before concluding, let me share some of the important experiences we have made in developing the Norwegian oil and gas sector, that may also be relevant for Angola. Whereas state control of the resources has been a fundamental principle,

We have enjoyed the rewarding aspect of having participation from the largest and leading international oil companies together with our national companies.

And, we encouraged the oil companies to involve domestic companies on a competitive basis, and to engage in research and technological development.

The involvement from the international companies has ensured that the Norwegian Continental Shelf has been part of the international development of technology and in the forefront in many areas. The sharing of competence, as applied in commercial co-operation, is a success model. We have seen it create pluralism, but also checks and balances, and it has improved efficiency and value creation.

For us local content is the value added in Norway independent of the ownership of the company. In a globalised industry, a local subsidiary of a multinational can be as effective in using local inputs and developing local capacity and competence as any other company.

The objective must be to encourage technology transfer, involving training of local staff and co-operation with the education system of the host country.

In concluding, I would like to leave the message that, the industry has the main responsibility for discovering, developing and producing the oil and gas efficiently. That includes an active involvement in developing local capabilities and competences. The oil companies have the main responsibility for building a sustainable local oil and gas business.

However, the Government also has a major role to play, in providing an effective and transparent regulatory regime and a stable investment climate and in ensuring that the oil industry operates in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.

Thank you for your attention!