Statoil and the University of California, Berkeley, are to develop and run a programme for managing the group's large and complex development projects.
In a recent international benchmarking, Statoil scored high on project execution.
The cooperation with Berkeley is part of the Project Academy, which is a result of the corporate initiative entitled World-class project performance.
"The Project Academy will help strengthen Statoil's position as one of the world's top performers in project development," says Margareth Øvrum, executive vice president for Technology & Projects.
Ms Øvrum is very pleased with the agreement with Berkeley:
"Berkeley is a top-class university," she says. "Fifty universities were considered, and Berkeley was chosen after an overall assessment."
The letter of intent was signed on 1 March and is valid for three years. Statoil has an option to extend the agreement by a further two years.
This new project management programme has a duration of one year, and the first 20 participants start in September.
Lectures will be given for a total of four weeks – at the university, at Statoil's head office in Stavanger and at one of the group's offices outside Norway. They will be given by experienced managers in Statoil and professors at the unversity.
The participants will also complete an e-learning programme, in addition to the lectures.