Ormen Lange encircled the whole stadium. In the foreground high school singers from schools in the county of Møre & Romsdal. (All pictures: Gisle Nomme)
"This was what we had to consider when we put together this huge show for the grand opening. After completing the construction of a processing plant with a multi billion price tag, we and our partners agreed that we had to celebrate it in a big way. Saturday’s celebration was probably the biggest ever arranged by Hydro," says Hanne Haugen, the show’s head arranger.
The packed Aker Stadium in Molde witnessed the incredible opening ceremony for the completed Ormen Lange project.
Even more important was that we wanted to give the people of municipal, who have followed closely the construction process at Nyhamna all the way through, an opening gift they would remember.
“We realised of course that for practical reasons we could not bring the whole county’s population to Nyhamna so we decided to take Nyhamna to them at the Aker Stadium in Molde,” says Haugen.
Project manager Tom Røtjer addressed the audience from the roof of the Stadium by telling them that the Ormen Lange project had attracted attention from around the world. He also thanked the many thousands of people who, over the last three years, have put many hours into making the project a great success.
Project manager Tom Røtjer addressed the audience from the roof of the Stadium..
"Because of your fantastic efforts we have made the impossible possible," constituted Røtjer, before he handed over the reigns to David Lougham, head of Shell, Norway who from 1 December takes over as operator for Ormen Lange.
Local talents
It wasn’t only the opening speeches which created the atmosphere at the Aker Stadium the Brazz Brothers saw to that! The whole musical experience was projected in super format through a screen which encompassed the whole stadium giving the spectators a special state-of-the-art visual surround effect.
The Norwegian star band ‘Dance With a Stranger’ really got the crowd going when lead singer Øyvind ”Elg” Elgenes got them all joining in the singing.
Actually it was the band’s front person Frode Alnæs who was the evening compare, and was openly glad to introduce the local artists.
"Dance With a Stranger" front person Frode Alnæs was the evening compare.
The list of artists included, amongst others, Molde’s own Ane Brun and Jo Nesbø and his band.
Opening broadcasted live from Aukra
Via a simultaneous broadcast the audience at the Aker Stadium were able to watch King Harald officially opening Ormen Lange after he was welcomed by Hydro’s Executive Vice President Eivind Reiten.
Producer of the Aukra broadcast was the experienced Guro Fostervold, producer at Norwegian television channel TV2.
The audience were also thrilled by the film of the tour around Aukra. The widescreen effect gave a special feeling of actually being there on the boat around the island with its landscape where now the plant has become a landmark.