Røða, sum Johan Dahl helt við setanina av "Faroe Prospects: Moving forward on the Atlantic Margin"
Ladies and Gentlemen, distinguished guests.
As the Minister of Trade and Industry responsible for hydrocarbon affairs, I am delighted to share today with you - a day where we will be addressing important issues pertaining to the future of hydrocarbon exploration in the North Atlantic Margin. I would like to extend my gratitude to the organisers, The Faroes Oil Industry Group, for organising this event, to shed light on the North Atlantic Margin as an attractive area for exploration. Furthermore, the conference will also set the scene for having a much needed debate concerning our future.
I would like to extend a very warm welcome to you all, guests from near and far – from abroad and the Faroe Islands. I am delighted to see so many key players from industry, the financial world, government bodies and industrial organisations. We are especially grateful to the speakers, who have taking the time to participate today. Not least those of you who have vast experience from places with an oil and gas history spanning a number of years.
We shall be hearing talks from key representatives in the Faroe Islands as well as our oil producing neighbours – Norway and the UK.
Petur Joensen, Director and Heri Ziska, Chief Geologist, both from the Faroese Earth and Energy Directorate, will be presenting findings from the Faroe Islands.
Rúni M. Hansen, Vice President and Head of Statoil’s Arctic Unit, will be sharing with us some of the challenges and their experience from explorations in harsh environments like the Faroese waters.
Magni Arge, Chairman of the Faroe Oil Industry Association and CEO of Atlantic Airways will address how Faroese companies have benefitted from oil exploration in the Faroe Islands. Thus today, we shall bring together the perspective of oil exploration with the surrounding enterprise, which are suppliers to the oil industry.
Árni Olafsson played a key role in scaffolding the Faroese hydrocarbon framework, which also involved negotiations with the UK government on the border dispute. Mr Olafsson will share with us this process and the rationale for the framework as we know it today.
We are also delighted to welcome Malcolm Webb, Chief Executive of Oil and Gas UK. Mr Webb is vastly experienced both in the upstream and downstream oil industry. I look forward to hearing his historical overview and not least his thoughts for our future in the North Atlantic Margin.
Nick Loizou, Senior Exploration Geoscientist from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change will shed light on the history of exploration on the West of Shetland – an area which is most applicable to the Faroese context.
Kari Ofstad, Senior Geologist at the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, will share with us the experience from Norway, especially in terms of initiatives to attract companies and increase exploration. This is something which we in the Faroe Islands can learn much from.
Last but not least a very warm welcome to Gro Brækken, the CEO of the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association. We shall hear from Ms Brækken about the Norwegian industry perspective on job creation and how industry can prepare for tough competition from emerging economies.
The title of the conference today - Faroe Prospects – moving forward on the Atlantic Margin – is most appropriate in describing the stage at which the Faroe Islands is at, in the oil and gas exploration life cycle. The past fifteen years have provided us with valuable insight and knowledge. We now know much more about Faroese geology and the explorations undertaken here have provided us with important datasets. Yet oil and gas exploration in the Faroe Islands is not without challenges both in terms of climate and the basalt layer in the Faroese underground.
There are positive opportunities for future oil and gas exploration in the Faroe Islands. Initially the reservoir properties of the Marjun fund were unclear. Yet later analysis has provided optimistic prospects, which has led to interest and a forthcoming exploration. Whilst touching on this topic I would like to turn to a quote from Parke A. Dickey which was later adapted by the American Potential Gas Committee.
We usually find gas in new places with old ideas. Sometimes, also, we find gas in an old place with a new idea, but we seldom find much gas in an old place with an old idea. Several times in the past we have thought that we were running out of gas, whereas actually we were only running out of ideas.
This quote reminds us that sometimes we need to rethink our approach which the example of Marjun shows.
So despite having gained important knowledge over the past decade or so, the Faroese underground still remains unexplored when it comes to the vast area below the basalt. It is this highly interesting area which we will need to focus on in the Faroe Islands in future.
As a small nation, which has just recently commenced on the journey of hydrocarbon exploration, we feel privileged that representatives from the oil producing nations next door are willing to share vast experience with us at this conference. It is such experience that will be most valuable now that we find ourselves at the crossroads of our journey. This means that we shall be taking steps to actively market the immensely exciting opportunities that are for oil and gas exploration in the Faroe Islands. Such steps are necessary in order to maintain interest and compete with other markets.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry with the Faroese Earth and Energy Directorate are now working towards an integrated marketing plan and preparing prospectuses. This will be a significant step in order to keep the focus on the Faroe Islands as a future key player in the world of oil and gas. This conference today is also an important event to shed light on the opportunities that the Faroe Islands has to offer. I would like to thank the Faroes Oil Industry Group for arranging this conference together with the Faroese Earth and Energy Directorate.
The Faroe Islands are heavily dependent on the fishing industry. This is obviously due to the rich natural resources we have in the sea around us. However, the potential of oil and gas as another natural resource must not be overlooked. The presence of such important industry actors as Statoil, ExxonMobil, Dong Energy, Atlantic Petroleum and OMV show us that these natural resources are not ignored. We are most pleased these organisations have bases in the Faroe Islands and the cooperation between them and the Faroese Authorities has been excellent.
Yet although we do not as yet have producing wells there is no doubt that the oil and gas industry has made a positive contribution to the Faroese economy. We have seen job creation and not least the demand for goods and services from these companies. Furthermore, the stipulations in Faroese legislation sets out requirements to operators in terms of recruitment of Faroese professionals, the supply of goods and services from Faroese companies as well as investing in skills and knowledge development on the islands.
So we find ourselves at a point where a continued focused strategy is needed to ensure economic growth in the Faroe Islands through the oil and gas industry. We are in the process of drawing up such a strategy, which I believe will secure our place as a significant area in the oil and gas context.
I hope you all have an inspiring and fruitful day. Thank you!