In the proposed budget for 2004 the Norwegian Government increases the grant for research and development in the petroleum sector with 28.5 million Norwegian kroner (NOK).This is an increase of about 25 per cent. The Government's total commitment to R&D in the petroleum sector amounts to NOK 140.5 million. The Government's proposal implies that NOK 30 million is designated to establishing PETROMAKS, a major new program planned by the Norwegian Research Council.

Through the establishing of PETROMAKS the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy wants to channel means for releasing important projects within the national technology strategy OG21 (Oil and Gas in the 21st Century). The establishing of PETROMAKS will embrace a strengthening of both strategic and user oriented research, as the intention of the program is to cover the whole value chain from basic to applied research, across former borderlines. This is in accordance with the new organisation of the Research Council.

With the planned establishing of PETROMAKS new research projects will be launched with considerable added efforts in the areas of exploration and enhanced recovery. The largest value creation potential in Norway lies in increased exploitation of existing fields and in better access to new reserves. Exploration and enhanced recovery are necessary for obtaining the Government's aim of a long term scenario for the Norwegian continental shelf.

Important research tasks of PETROMAKS will be:

• Development of methods for enhanced recovery, reservoir management, drilling technology and new processes, methods and technology for gas off-take
• Development of geophysical measuring methods, exploration and reservoir models and better understanding of the forming of basins

In the proposed budget for 2004 the Norwegian Government grants a total of NOK 293.5 million to the Norwegian Research Council over the Ministry's budget, an increase of NOK 58. 5 million. The increase will be used for establishing PETROMAKS, and increased efforts for developing carbon capture technologies.