The ambition of the present government, as several administrations before it, is for Norway to be world leading in offshore health, environment and safety (HES). This was repeated last week by two ministers, when they visited Kollsnes gas facility, according to media coverage. Norwegian Oil and Gas has stated the same objectives repeatedly.

But nobody appears to accept that such a position does not come easily without investments. In fact, the industry as well as the authorities all appear to assume that this ambition can go hand in hand with the massive cost cutting the has been implemented the last two to three years.

We think this is fundamentally wrong. A dedicated effort and investment of funds are required to uphold the ambition of world supremacy. Consider the British Health Care system, once reckoned to be world leading. But massive cost cutting over many years has had its effect, the British health care is not considered world leading any more.

When it comes to offshore safety and major accident prevention in particular, there may be a long delay, perhaps up to ten years or more, before the effect can be seen in terms of accidents. At that stage, the effort needed to turn the trend in the right direction will be formidable.

Therefore we support PSA’s concern with the numbers presented in the RNNP report for 2016 in late April, and would like to see the industry taking the concerns more seriously.