Norwegian oil major Statoil has joined the GCE Subsea Cluster as a new industry partner.
The GCE Subsea Cluster is one of Norway’s three Global Centres of Expertise, which currently has 23 partners within the industry, R&D, academia, and public offices.
Owe Hagesæther , CEO of GCE Subsea, said: “[Statoil is] the largest company in Norway and one of the most capable and competent subsea companies in the world it is of great importance, and a great pleasure, to announce our partnership.”
Stein Olav Drange , VP technology management in Statoil, added: “Statoil values the clusters national and international network and their driving role in industry-driven R&D and innovation processes. We also focus on building relations with the Oceans Industries Incubator and the Startup and ScaleUp programs and companies in GCE Subsea, and believe that GCE Subsea will prove to be a useful arena for innovation relevant to our value chain.”
The organization said that, by joining the cluster, its partners gained access to an arena where they could potentially meet customers and partners and where valuable knowledge is shared and transferred among the members and partners.
“We are excited to have Statoil onboard as a partner. This will strengthen the cluster significantly, and add force to our effort implementing our strategy for the Norwegian subsea industry,” Hagesæther concludes.
GCE Subsea also said that all organizations established in Norway that deliver products or services in or to the subsea industry or intend to do so could become members of the organization.