These are the climate and the future of the industry in light of this challenge, and the fall in oil prices with the resulting decline in activity, cost reductions and downsizing. At the same time, I must add that the good reputation of the industry will also contribute positively to safe work. Trust is essential for cooperation between all parties in the industry – government, unions and employers.
When we looked at opinion polls and the sector's performance and compared it to other sectors, the oil sector was clearly recognized as large and important to the Norwegian economy. Everyone understands that the industry is extremely important for the Norwegian economy,” says Ihlen, summarizing the two polls he cites.
GETTING
THE MESSAGE ACROSS
Our reputation is an important parameter for our survival," explains Færøvik, who serves as chairman of the organization. We must have the confidence of the general public in what we do, and its acceptance of our activities.”. We have a long-term perspective – we know that skilled employees will be needed for many years to come."
An important part of the job of building the reputation of the oil industry is communicating the facts and telling good stories, Færøvik points out. Personally, I think it is important to say that there are every reason why Norway should continue to compete for the supply of oil and gas that the world will need in the future. It is hard for my children's generation to imagine a world without the wealth that oil has brought us."
However, Færøvik believes that the industry's reputation is better than many think and that it has a high level of acceptance among the general public – but it is a silent majority. Our adversaries are the ones who dominate the media picture, and many people are easily misled by big, bold negative headlines. He believes that opponents of the oil sector have failed to present a realistic picture of the consequences of stifling an activity that is so crucial to the Norwegian economy.
Safety and the working environment are factors of great importance for the reputation of the oil industry", emphasizes IE president Frode Alfheim.
HEADING FOR BRIGHTER TIMES
He was recently elected president of the Norwegian Union of Industrial and Energy Workers (IE), the largest group of employees in the country's petroleum sector. A viable industry is crucial - without it we can discuss pay levels and the working environment until we're blue in the face." In recent years, we have fought tooth and nail to stay afloat.
It is now important to protect the work they have done and keep spending under control so that good, profitable projects can be realised." Among other things, he has great expectations for the upcoming Johan Castberg development in the Barents Sea and the side effects it will give. The new leader had risen through the ranks in the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) since the early 1990s, but was also heavily involved in national politics.
Much of our work in the IE is about getting politicians to see the links between industry and value creation and to understand our needs as a trade union. Another issue that concerns him is to strengthen the two-way cooperation between employees and management in the companies. But Alfheim believes tripartite cooperation in the petroleum industry, which also involves the government, functions well.
We were unhappy with some of the issues and raised this with PSA, but I believe she has dealt with many of these over the last 18 months.
CHANGE OF APPROACH
NEEDED
It draws parallels with later disasters, such as the Macondo explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. Accident prevention is much more important for a company in the oil industry than in other sectors, he says, because their consequences are much more serious. But the most important value in security work lies in reducing the risk that something will go wrong.
The oil industry is way ahead of the rest of Norwegian society in terms of safety thinking and performance. Risk is precisely something that a modern society should discuss in its full breadth, Dahle believes, and is keen to get into a matter that concerns him far more than the oil industry's good name. How is it possible to live in this world that is being destroyed and not take the risk of doing something serious?” he asks.
We have taken a path that is fundamentally wrong, and the consequences of what we are doing are now becoming very apparent. If all oil-based materials suddenly disappeared, we'd be in a pretty pickle. It's full of very smart people who don't seem to understand the seriousness of the problem.
Our planet is like a spaceship and we have to manage the resources it has on board.”
SEEKING
ACCEPTANCE FOR SUCCESS
But the country's aquaculture industry needs to work hard at home to strengthen its reputation. The Norwegian aquaculture sector has grown over four decades from nothing to an important place in the national economy. We have been accused of acting recklessly, polluting the fjords and showing no concern for nature," says Are Kvistad, head of communications at the Norwegian Seafood Federation (NSF).
That is absolutely not true, because the fish have to be in a good environment if they want to grow.” It certainly would have been easier to produce nails, but think how boring that would have been.”.
SWIMMING IN CASH
The NSF spends a lot of time educating aquaculture companies about the importance of openness and information, especially in the local communities where their activities take place. A lack of dialogue with the world around them and insufficient knowledge of the sector are factors that can weaken the position of the sector,” says Kvistad. When a newspaper article about fish farming has the headline: “We are destroying the fjords,” the slant is based on feelings.
But the question is why people are concerned - why we are perceived as a threat." He says that old myths persist, including claims that fish farmers use a lot of antibiotics - when the truth is that such drugs have been almost eliminated from the industry. Results shows that the status of both the industry and its products is fairly stable.
They are both the same age here, from the 1960s-70s, and have grown greatly since then. A third similarity is that these sectors are quite profitable, which helps make people even more critical.” Aquaculture's reputation has a significant impact on its role both in Norway and internationally, says Bjørn-Erik Stabell, head of salmon and trout at the Norwegian Fisheries Council.
It has traditionally focused its resources on the promotion and strengthening of the reputation of salmon as a product, but not on the method of production of this fish.
MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL
Our efforts must be aimed at dispelling myths and showing the derivative effects this sector provides in the form of value creation and employment. FeedAquaculture's fantastic expansion has paralleled the growth of fish feed specialist Skretting to become the world's leading supplier in its field with factories in 16 countries. At the head office in Stavanger, managing director Erlend Sødal says that growth on the domestic market has stopped because no new fish farm permits are granted.
If the benchmark is a zero environmental footprint, the industry has not yet reached that point – even though it has worked very hard to get there. Skretting takes its own initiatives to encourage discussions about the industry's reputation, partly through the large AquaVision conference held in Stavanger every other year. This event brings together top management in the fish farming sector to debate its future.
As a feed producer, we depend on the industry being held in the highest possible regard, directly and indirectly," says Sødal. Noting that salmon is a luxury and may not be the product to save the world from food shortages, Sødal argues that lessons from farming it will benefit global aquaculture in the long term. Much of what we learned about salmon is now applied to the farming of species such as shrimp and cheaper fish such as tilapia," he notes.
WORLD LEADER Norway is today the world's largest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon, and the importance of the aquaculture sector to the economy could further increase as oil production declines.
PRIDE AND REGULATION
The industry operates within a performance-based regulatory regime, so our assessment of its reputation is linked to strong HSE performance results, as well as the confidence levels of the offshore workforce, government, stakeholders and community. Overall, the industry is performing relatively well, with maintenance performance being maintained and no fatalities or serious injuries being recorded in calendar year 2016. The industry must meet these challenges and demonstrate how it is reducing risks in any oil activity in open sea.
What are the most important steps an industry can take to maintain or strengthen its reputation. The state of the industry in the eyes of Canadians has been polarized over the past few years, with opinion polls showing varying levels of support depending on the timing and makeup of the poll. Canadians are familiar with the risks associated with offshore oil activities, and the industry has very little room for error when it comes to safety and environmental protection.
The industry recognizes that public trust is becoming as important to it as regulatory compliance and the economic and technical challenges it faces when it comes to the exploration, production and transportation of petroleum products. Stakeholders recognize that petroleum products play a key role in the daily life of the country, and the industry recognizes that confidence in the safety of its operations is paramount to its reputation. What are the most important steps an industry can take to strengthen or maintain its reputation.
Effective management of the risks associated with aging infrastructure and offshore decommissioning is also important to maintaining the industry's reputation.
DIALOGUE
