Local content development : experiences from oil and gas activities in Norway

Abstract

In the paper industrial development connected to upstream oil and gas activities in Norway is discussed. Several factors explain the success of Norway in this respect. Some of these factors are of a kind that only rarely may be copied by other countries. In particular, Norway benefited from being an industrialized economy before oil and gas was discovered, and time and time again destiny has been on Norway’s side. However, the essential base line for success in local content development, for Norway as for any country, is to stay dedicated to the fundamental task of involving and enhancing the domestic knowledge base through arrangements that allow for a dynamic industrial and technological development, that gradually expands domestic competences and capabilities to competitive levels. In this process, trials and errors are parts of the game, and the obvious pit fall is to keep local industry protected in a way that only will encourage inferior industrial activities.