The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) invited central politicians and the media to take part in a visit to the Statoil-operated Mongstad refinery today, Wednesday 9 August.
LO's Roar Flåthen (centre) was shown round Mongstad by Statoil's Egil Sæl (left) and Bjørn Kåre Viken (right), vice president of Statoil Mongstad.
LO wants to promote the significance of the planned combined heat and power (CHP) station at Mongstad, north of Bergen.
"LO asked to come to Mongstad because the organisation is interested in industrial development in Norway," says Egil Sæl, vice president for business development and technology in the Manufacturing & Marketing business area.
"The CHP station will help to facilitate the further development of the industrial area of Mongstad."
Roar Flåthen, deputy leader of LO, took the initiative to this visit.
"We want to show how important this project is, both from an environmental and an industrial point of view," says Mr Flåthen. "Since Norway needs more energy production, it is important to promote realistic projects."
The CHP station will provide more efficient exploitation of energy from the Mongstad refinery.
Norwegian requirements for carbon capture could however hinder the project.
"We take a positive view of LO's involvement in the CHP station as we await the report from the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT)," says Mr Sæl. "It will be interesting to see what requirements the SFT stipulates for the project."
The SFT's report is expected sometime this week.