Statoil is financing a professorship for a new master's degree programme in energy and the environment in the far north at the University of Tromsø.
With the new professorship in the mathematics/natural science faculty, it will be possible to launch a unique course of study covering the environment-friendly development of energy in the far north.
Particular challenges linked to energy production in this region will form the basis of the study.
The master's course will build on a bachelor's degree, or equivalent, in science or technology.
The study will provide information on energy production from renewable and fossil energy sources. Students will learn about such topics as drilling and production of oil and gas, environmental and risk analyses relating to marine geology, and how different methods of using global observation data can be used to monitor coastal areas, vessels and platforms.
The professorship has been announced in Norway and internationally, and the first students will start this specialist course this autumn.
Statoil's specialist organisation at the group's Harstad office in northern Norway has been involved in planning the new study.
Through the Vista programme for cooperation on basic scientific research between Statoil and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Statoil has sponsored about 160 scholarship holders over the past 20 years, in the areas of exploration, improved oil recovery, oil and gas processing, pollution, health and the environment.