Statoil and the administration of Archangel county have signed a memorandum of understanding today covering mutual cooperation in the fields of industrial development, education, environmental issues relating to fish and oil, and corporate social responsibility.
Under the agreement, Statoil has offered to assist Archangel county in establishing an oil industry supplier centre, building on the good experiences from the Snøhvit project.
Further, Statoil will assist in the establishment of a petroleum-directed Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) programme of international standard at the Pomor State University in Archangel. As part of the programme, the university will be enabled to run and develop further the programme after a three to five year period.
In addition, cooperation in teaching offshore petroleum technology subjects at the Archangel Technical University is under development. Norwegian universities such as the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim (NTNU) and Stavanger University will be the Norwegian partners in the programme.
“The agreement will lead to the creation of a centre in Archangel that will conduct further training and preparation programmes for oil companies, as part of the region’s preparation for future oil and gas extraction from fields located in the Barents Sea," said Mr Kiselov.
The first steering committee meeting under the agreement will be held in Archangel in mid-December, where the various programmes will be defined and initiated.