As you may know, while Fluenta is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, the company was founded in Haugesund, in the North of Norway, where it developed world-leading flare gas measurement technology following the company’s inception in 1985. Another key area in Norway’s Oil & Gas industry is Stavanger in the south, home to several key industry and regulatory bodies, as well as the world’s leading petroleum science universities.
Stavanger is the oil capital of Norway and the sixth largest oil producer in the world. Since the discovery of oil in the southern North Sea field Ekofisk in 1969, the town has seen a stark transformation from an industrial trading town to the energy capital of Europe. Norway plans to become the primary gas supplier to the UK through a series of new and existing pipelines and will meet approximately a quarter of Europe’s gas requirements in the near future.
Stavanger contains half of Norway’s Oil & Gas industry, employing around 45,000 people. The area is home to more than 280 oil service companies, as well as Norway’s official administrative centre for the industry, including the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate and the Petroleum Safety Authority. A central location for the industry, every two years the city hosts the leading global oil, gas and energy event, ONS.
The Norwegian Continental shelf, which is rich in oil and gas and provides the foundation of Norway’s petroleum economy, is a challenging exploration and production area. The shelf has become an international testing ground for new technology, which is supported by the University of Stavanger, a leading petroleum science and offshore technology research institution. While Fluenta was founded in Haugesund in the north of Norway, its flare gas measurement technology has undoubtedly been developed in conjunction with the people and research facilities in and around this pioneering area.
The university, as well as several key research centres, provides a pioneering environment for the growth of a variety of innovative technology and regulatory developments. Norway is a global leader in the fight against climate change, and in 1991 became the first country to introduce taxation on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Since 1996, this tax regime has been used as the main climate change policy in Norway, which it uses to reinvest in innovative new sustainable energy technologies, aiming to reach zero net carbon emissions by 2050.
The balance Norway has struck between environmental considerations and economic and industrial growth over the past few decades has been an inspiration for other countries in Europe and around the world, and is seen as the most radical climate change policy implemented by an oil-producing country. Although the European Union (EU) has proposed a harmonised carbon tax since 2010, the 27 member states have yet to agree on the proposal, which would charge companies between four and 30 Euros per metric tonne of CO2 released. The tax rate in Norway is sector-dependant, with higher rates applied to the Oil & Gas industry than for example, the Mineral Oils industry. While there is not yet a comprehensive EU-wide policy in place, several member states have followed Norway’s lead independently, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Fluenta’s technology undergoes continuous innovation and improvement in Norway and has done since its original development in 1985. The foundation of this commitment to continuous improvement is in Fluenta’s Norwegian heritage, which has cultivated the creation of the most accurate and dependable flare measurement devices available today.
