It’s a major event that the EAGE conference (European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers) will be held in Norway, from 10-13 June in Lillestrøm. Around 6000 participants are expected to attend.

In addition to director general Torgeir Stordal, several of the Directorate’s employees will give presentations. One of them is geophysicist Petter Dischington.

“I’ll be talking about the Norwegian resource management model. Our experts don’t just work on administrative issues, we also have the expertise on board to perform our own technical work. Specifically, I’ll be presenting some of our work where we’ve used machine learning and data and made this available to the industry. This is a benefit for the industry while also creating value for society,” he says.

Some examples

Dischington highlights examples of the work performed by the Norwegian Offshore Directorate:

• Diskos, a national data repository for exploration and production-related information from the Norwegian shelf, which is shared between the authorities and the oil and gas industry.
• AI-Nina is one of the first solutions aimed at the energy industry which utilises large language models to find and use information in documents.
• Through the Avatara project, the Directorate has realised the world’s first public archive of digital microscope sections for fossil micro-plankton, pollen and spores.
• Machine learning projects for seismic and well data.

“On the following day, other stakeholders will present examples of how they’ve built on our work,” he continues.

Several experts will take part

Geologist Kristoffer Engenes will talk about technology for monitoring CO2 storage on the Norwegian shelf. Geologist Jorge Sanchez-Borque is the moderator for a session on results from wildcat wells in Norway and the UK between 2018-2023. Geologist Rune Mattingsdal will hold a presentation on a new, young source rock that may be significant for the western part of the Barents Sea. Colleague Lars Gunder Klefstad will be the moderator for a session on the use of AVO (applications and case examples) as well as a session on global exploration results.

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate has also taken part in planning the conference, where Arne Jacobsen, assistant director subsurface and technology, was part of the main committee. Jacobsen will also talk about all the opportunities on the Norwegian shelf.

Major event

“It’s a major event that EAGE will be held in Norway. Regulatory authorities from both Norway and other countries will be in attendance. At the same time, it’s a huge specialist conference where our employees participate, contribute and gain insight into technical developments,” Stordal says.Among other things, he will be part of a panel that will address the role the North Sea could play in the energy transition.“Here, my primary focus will be on what we as authorities have already done, and what role we can play going forward.”