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Doing Business with Norway

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Did you know that Norway… Covers 1,100 miles from south to north – same distance as from Oslo to Rome or New York to Miami? Encourages its citizens to submit income tax returns by cell phone? Is the world’s 3rd largest exporter of both oil and gas? Ranked 1st on UN’s index of best countries to live in for 5 years in a row? Produces 99% of its electricity based on renewable hydropower? Is extremely ICT savvy – that 85% of 10 year olds have cell phones? Has the largest investment fund in Europe, valued at $300 billion – same as GDP? Has a GDP per capita higher than the United States? Is currently building Europe’s first export terminal for LNG? Was chosen by Google for location of its latest R&D facility?

NorwayMajor Economic Sectors: 

Norway Major Economic Sectors US - Norway Trade $10.5 billion total. $4.5 billion in petroleum from Norway. $2 billion in machinery, ICT and transportation equipment from the US. Energy - Oil/Gas/Renewables ICT Shipping/Marine Technology Fisheries/Aquaculture Metals Pulp and Paper Defense and Aerospace Environmental Technologies Travel and Tourism

NorwayBusiness Climate: 

Norway Business Climate World-class telecommunication infrastructure and very high ICT literacy. Extensive transportation network by air, sea and roads – roads in some rural areas can be a challenge. Modern logistics and distribution centers. Predictability and stability. High ethical focus. Traditionally active state sector – strong labor movement. High taxes – direct and indirect; marginal rates of about 50%, Value Added Tax of 25%, high fuel and auto taxes, and high “sin” taxes. Relatively low costs for highly skilled engineers/scientists. High labor costs/short working hours/long vacations. Selling Factors Norwegian companies are generally willing to pay for quality. To Norwegians “new” is not necessarily better. Hard selling techniques will get you nowhere in Norway. Norwegians are typically not “tactical” negotiators; if they say your product is too expensive, they probably mean it.

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Norway Oil and Gas Sector Major Annual Investments Norway’s most significant industry. Projected 2007 investments: $17 billion. 3 million barrels produced every day. Production only offshore. Statoil and Hydro are major customers and will merge in 2007; Statoil places orders for $5-6 billion annually from local suppliers. United States holds strong position. Oil companies include ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Marathon, and Amerada Hess.

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Oil and Gas Equipment and Services Best Prospects – Technology in Demand Advanced subsea and deepwater technology for extreme arctic waters… CO2 handling - carbon capture and storage. LNG value chain technology. E-field – technology facilitating remote/onshore, real-time operations. Marginal field technology, enhanced recovery, tail-end production. High and growing focus on new and advanced environmental technologies. Technology facilitating cost reductions of any kind. Decommissioning/abandonment technology – alternative use of installations.

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Renewable Energy Green Technologies Best Prospects – Technology in Demand C02 capture and storage. Wind power. Hydropower. Solar power. District heating. Geothermal energy. Waste incineration technologies. Tidal power and wave energy. Electric vehicles – battery technology. Alternative fuel and fuel efficiency – vehicles/ships.

Innovative ICT Industry Seeks Sophisticated Solutions: 

Innovative ICT Industry Seeks Sophisticated Solutions Large public ICT contracts: new national pension reform, bank ID/biometric ID cards, citizen portals. Applications for energy sector: real-time remote operations for extreme conditions, advanced seismic data visualization software, security systems. Applications for healthcare technologies: telemedicine, electronic patient records, data handling/storage, logistics software. IP technology, Internet and wireless services and content, non-voice services, advanced security measures. Shipbuilding and offshore design, simulation and construction solutions, logistics software. Enterprise Resource Planning software for SMEs.

Healthcare TechnologiesBiotechnology: 

Healthcare Technologies Biotechnology 85 state-owned hospitals managed by four regional health enterprises. Current investment plans valued at $3 billion. $250 million annually in medical equipment procurements. Telemedicine/e-medicine growing in importance. Reduction of occupancy rates – cutting overall costs. Biotech Cancer research. Marine biotech/Aquaculture. Bioprospecting. Biobanks. Animal biotech.

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Competitive Shipping and Offshore Cluster Norwegian fleet 5th largest in the world. Fleet of mobile offshore rigs 2nd largest, after the United States. 15% of world fleet for offshore services. Two of the three largest ship brokerages. 10% of world’s maritime banking services. Underwriters account for 20% of insurance. Norwegian classification companies classify 15% of world tonnage. Oslo Stock Exchange regarded as the world’s largest shipping exchange.

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USA Pavilions at Trade Shows Nor-Shipping 2007 Oslo – June 12-15, 2007 (Shipping and Maritime) Reiseliv 2008 Oslo – Janurary 10-13, 2008 (Travel and Tourism) Offshore Northern Seas 2008 Stavanger – August 26-29, 2008 (Oil and Gas)

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Following Up Please contact us to take advantage of U.S. and Norwegian trade and investment opportunities. The American Embassy in Oslo’s Web site is “http://norway.usembassy.gov”; the Commercial Section’s is “www.buyusa.gov/norway.” Thank you!