The Prime Minister's speech at the opening of Offshore Northern Seas (ONS) 2024

Checked against delivery

Your Royal Highness,
Dear friends,

For me it is a great honour to be here in Stavanger at ONS 2024, at the anniversary, 50 years after the event first took place.

1974 – 2024

At that time, this was a modest regional meeting – by the way, it is actually hard to believe that anything here in this region would have been ‘modest’, when I look around, here in Stavanger and Rogaland, – and now, the ONS has become the global energy and technological arena.

So, to all of you, the ONS organisers, local government representatives, partners and companies: On behalf of the Norwegian Government – and I think of all of us in Norwegian politics – congratulations! And thank you for your perseverance during this half century, which I think His Royal Highness described so well just now.

Initially, the Offshore Northern Seas aimed to bring together the operators in the new North Sea oil fields.

Looking at all of you today, it feels like our nearby North Sea has evolved into a vast ocean. The whole world has come to Stavanger.

In the meantime, the city has become an international place, an international region, part of Norway’s outlook, our perspective – which is always towards the seas.

Norway has become one of the world’s largest gas exporters, and we have also transformed part of the riches from the petroleum resources into the world’s largest pension fund. This is also part of our energy story. – In addition to our world-leading roles in shipping, in seafood, and in marine research. – This illustrates a long line in our history – that Norway is an ocean nation: We have the world’s second largest coastline, after Canada.

So, as the Crown Prince asked; what were things like in 1974?

Well, I had just turned 14 (by one day), Stavanger had 84 000 people and Norway 3,9 million. Trygve Bratteli was Prime Minister and Gro Harlem Brundtland became Minister of Environment – and she will also be with us here at ONS later today!

The Statfjord oil field was discovered. Abba sang ‘Waterloo’. And we had the World Ski Championships – where the big issue was whether to use wooden skis or the other, new skis. It is part of that story that the Norwegians kept using the wooden skis for too long time, and others were faster and smarter in that transition. – A lesson to learn.

Transitions

We were on our way into a new era – not just because of the skis.

In Norway and in Stavanger – that we proudly call our energy capital – and in Rogaland, we have experienced enormous change over the past 50 years.

It is for us to be inspired by these changes and draw lessons – and see how we can move forward today.

Transitions are really nothing new in this region.

You – all of you assembled in this room – really know what it is; you have been leading these changes. Changes are happening continuously.

So, what is today’s outlook? Where do we go from here? What is the next chapter? What can we expect? What will be expected from us? As government – in politics – and also from you, in the industry, in research, on national and international levels.

‘Imagine’ is ONS’ theme this year, and we think of John Lennon’s famous song – and the line ‘The world will be as one’. Looking at the world today, it is really not like ‘one’ in some senses – and that is a tragedy – however, the climate is ‘one’ and we cannot escape from that.

Let me very briefly ‘imagine’ four challenges that we all face together, and how these are part of the messages at this important ONS week:

Geopolitical uncertainty

First – and, unfortunately, I would say – I will stress: the geopolitical uncertainty.

We cannot be complacent in our analysis of what is happening now, dear friends. Because it is serious and we have to be sober in the way we analyse it and draw the right conclusions on how we move forward.

We will do everything in our power to protect Norway’s interests – on land and at sea.

We are strengthening our defence, intelligence, national preparedness, and our cooperation with close allies. It is important for me to mention this here because it affects directly our maritime security, ships, harbours, our land and offshore installations.

I cannot promise you less geopolitical uncertainty in the years ahead. I believe, probably, on the contrary, I think the uncertainty will last.

So, we have to imagine the future transitions and everything we need to do in the midst of this uncertainty.

And you know why. The world has become more dangerous, more unpredictable.

A full-scale military invasion into a neighbouring country in Europe is a break of history. This continent has the toolbox to deal with differences politically, in negotiations, through conventions and charters, and all the rest of it, so a brutal land invasion called ‘a military special operation’ is such a break of what Europe should be. But this is what is happening.

And this is our neighbour, in a different part of Europe, but it is also our neighbour in our part of Europe, now employing a wide range of instruments; increased intelligence activity, propaganda, cyber-attacks, widespread infiltration and sabotage activity. – So, be on your guard.

And let me add, we are not helpless; on the contrary, we act – at all levels of our society – to take care of our security, and we do so along with our Allies, who are among the strongest in the world. So, we will be consistent and focused on all these issues in our own European setting.

Energy security

At a time of geopolitical tensions, we will ensure that Norway remains a reliable supplier of energy to Europe. – As we were in those dramatic days of February 2022. We were able – with our able companies, I mean – it is not the Government doing it, but we made it happen – so that we could increase our export to Europe with almost 10 percent, which I think was an important contribution at that time.

We will continue to provide a stable, predictable framework for companies investing on our continental shelf. – And we will make available opportunities to search and find new sources.

Norway is the largest producer of oil and gas in Europe. Norwegian gas covers nearly 30 percent of EU's and the UK's combined needs. We will take that responsibility with us.

Green transition

And gas is also balancing the increasing share of intermittent renewable power. It has to be part of the mix. – However, this is not a passive observation of status quo, on the contrary, we – and you – have a clear conviction that we are going through a historic transition. – Which brings me to my third point, the green transition – which I think the Crown Prince described so eloquently.

It is happening now, gradually. As the IEA’s excellent reports, led by my friend Fatih Birol, so clearly show.

So, we have to do this based on knowledge, based on science, based on political, sound economic convictions.

At the same time, as we continue to provide energy security for our European friends, we will push forward the energy transition. – Norway, dear friends, is in transition.

From day one, the green transition has been on top of my agenda as Prime Minister. – What does that mean?

It means that we aim to cut emissions from our oil and gas production by 50 per cent by 2030 and to net zero by 2050.

We aim to develop new industries – within carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen with our German and other partners – as well to develop offshore wind, green shipping, aquaculture, raw materials and seabed minerals.

Let Europe never again be dependent on an external, authoritarian power for critical minerals or energy. It is Europe’s responsibility to find alternatives, and Norway will be in the heart of that.

We aim to realize bold offshore wind projects – 30 GW by 2040 – to increase renewable energy supply, provide new industrial opportunities, and create jobs. They may be less profitable, or they may be, but we have to be in the lead in moving forward on this; we have the world’s second longest coastline; we have opportunities.

We also aim to facilitate battery production. Last week, I had the honour to open Morrow’s LFP battery factory in Arendal; it is actually Europe’s largest. We need better storage capacity, in Europe and beyond, to make renewable energy useful.

We aim to double our climate finance, supporting countries in the Global South to make their green transition.

And we also aim to build stronger international partnerships, beyond Europe, like – and this is one of my engagements for the moment – the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), which I co-chair, where we bring together philanthropy, governments and financial institutions, focusing on scaling renewable energy storage solutions in developing and emerging countries. – Because some of those countries they have to pay a green premium for their storage capacity – and when they have the choice of very expensive storage capacity, well they may then go for another round of coal plants instead of doing what makes sense – which is solar, wind and these new opportunities.

So, let us be bold, ambitious, and at the same time honest.

The green transition will not be straightforward, not easy, it may be bottlenecks, as we have experienced at wind projects in the North Sea – but there is really no way going back. We have to move forward – because our targets really matter.

For instance, I think when we succeed on the technology of carbon capture and storage (CCS) – the Northern Lights project, outside our West coast – it has major impacts far beyond Norway.

I find that very encouraging. CCS is happening, in Europe and the European Union – I salute the Commissioner – and the Commission for including that into our agreements and part of the Green Alliance with the European Union – that is really important.

CCS is becoming part of the solution to how we can make energy useful and available, and Norway aims to continue in leading this process.

People

My fourth and final point, dear friends, is what really matters the most – the people themselves. And I join all them who are saluting all the people who have taken part and contributed to ONS and the Norwegian energy story throughout the last 50 years.

Ultimately, it is all about people. And here too, we have a job to do together, because another transition will affect us all – people.

In many sectors – health, schools, technology – the biggest challenge ahead will be shortage of skilled labour.

I met with some Labour Party friends in Stavanger this morning, they gave me reports from the health sector, from the industry sector; and this will come to all sectors: How do we get all the people we need in order to reach the goals we set?

In the last three years, we have seen 140 000 new jobs in Norway and nine out of ten have come in small and medium companies. And we aim to get another 150 000 by 2030. So, if we have managed 140 000 in the last three years, we should manage 150 000 in the next six years. And this is also something we have to do together.

When we look ahead for the Norwegian economy, we see an urgent need to prepare for more people into work, enjoying it and contributing to their own lives and also to the country’s economy.

The Government's strategy is multiple:

We need to get more people into jobs and keep them employed.

We have to reduce sick leave and preventing dropouts. And today’s increase in the number of young disabled individuals – as we see it – is something that cannot continue. As a community we have to give them another vision, another aspiration.

We want to see our students complete their studies on time, and not waste time during studies.

And we will have to work smarter, more efficiently, and take advantage of digitalization and artificial intelligence. We, as a government, are working on building an infrastructure for the artificial intelligence, so that the big movers, who move ahead, can also share part of that infrastructure to the smaller ones. They cannot do that on their own.

And we will have to provide and pursue a responsible economic policy, provide fair distribution over time.

I believe in equity – it is key to the transition we are going through. If we get too big differences between high and low on the wage scales, the transition will ultimately be much more difficult, and that is why we have to stick to the Norwegian model, as I see it, strengthen the overall workforce – and ensure that the industry has access to the highly skilled labour that you need.

We have to do this together – by strong public-private cooperation and partnerships – as designed by the Norwegian welfare model. – Just as we do when we deal with geopolitical uncertainty, energy security and staying the course for the green transition – which I believe is the biggest challenge of them all.

So, dear friends, powerful partnerships – just as how ONS was established in 1974 – a partnership between the city of Stavanger and the companies. Now, that is a national project, a global project, and I really wish you luck at this very important week. – I wish you all a powerful, productive ONS 2024!