NPD Names Director for the Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea

Ingrid Sølvberg (43) joined the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s management team on 1 October, as director for the Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea.

Ingrid Sølvberg comes from the position of commercial manager in Centrica. She has previously held a number of expert and management positions in Statoil within technical facilities and strategic areas.

“I am looking forward to working with the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. As petroleum provinces, these areas are in different phases and face different challenges. It will be exciting and challenging to play a key role in ensuring good management of the petroleum resources in the north on behalf of the Norwegian society.”

Sølvberg is a chartered marine technology engineer who earned her degree at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in 1994.

“As a technology person, I find it particularly interesting to follow discoveries and fields that require innovative thinking in both the development and operations phases. This certainly applies to the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea,” says Sølvberg.

Parts of these areas have tough weather conditions, combined with the fact that companies and the authorities have to resolve challenges associated with factors such as deep water, high pressure/high temperature reservoirs, ice and the vast distances involved.

As director, Sølvberg will take the lead in the NPD’s work involving the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. The Norwegian Sea is a relatively mature area with 16 producing fields – the first of which, Draugen, came on stream in 1993.

The Barents Sea is considered to be an immature petroleum province. Snøhvit started production in 2007, while Goliat is under development. Many exciting discoveries have also been made in the Barents Sea in the last couple of years.

Sølvberg will maintain a close dialogue with the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, as well as with the industry.

Director for the Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea is a management function within the NPD’s rotation scheme. The term of office for directors in the NPD is currently up to six years. Sølvberg replaces Torsten Bertelsen, who went to Petoro earlier this year.

[mappress]
Press Release, October 10, 2013