Hydro is investing NOK 22 million in the Norwegian company Tektonisk and its ShareCat database technology. ShareCat is used by a number of international oil and gas producers to share information between suppliers and subcontractors on the type of equipment used in connection with the construction and operation of oil and gas installations.
"With the ShareCat technology, Tektonisk has established a solid foothold in Norway. The company has also been awarded several interesting international assignments, including the Sakhalin project in Eastern Russia. Our aim with this investment is to contribute to further growth internationally and in Norway," says Richard Erskine, head of Technology Ventures in Hydro.
ShareCat provides operators, suppliers and subcontractors with access to information about equipment on oil and gas installations. The technology is Internet-based and enables all the participants in the supplier chain to obtain and deliver information from a shared location.
"Tektonisk is the only company that has succeeded in getting the different links of the oil and gas installation supplier chain to communicate with each other by means of a common database. We have therefore won a lot of time and obtained more accurate documentation regarding the type of equipment found on the installations," adds Erskine.
Tektonisk is based in Bergen and also runs offices in Stavanger and London. The company, set up in 1993 by brothers Knut and Trond Even Dagsvik, has 32 employees and had a turnover in 2006 of approximately NOK 26 million. Tektonisk has signed agreements with a number of operators on the Norwegian continental shelf in recent years. ShareCat has been used in connection with the Ormen Lange development, for which Hydro is operator.
Hydro's Technology Ventures, established in March 2001, has total funds of NOK 750 million. The unit invests in cutting-edge companies within the oil and energy field.