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USD 1 = NOK 7,20 No. 22 - 29 June 1993
CONTENTS:
Statoil and Neste merge in petrochemicals (1) Industrial
locomotives pick up steam (2-3) Norway takes over EUREKA
chair (4)
Sharp rise in Norwegian technology exports (5)
Diamonds found on island (6)
New polar excursion in Nansen's wake (7)
First national park centre opened (8)
Grey sea eagle population doubled (9)
Norway to set environmental standards (10)
Hydro cooperation in Japan (10)
norinform/1 29 June 1993
STATOIL AND NESTE MERGE IN PETROCHEMICALS
Statoil has merged its petrochemical division with the Finnish firm
Neste's petrochemical business. A joint petrochemical firm will be
started next year and Statoil and Neste will each own 50 per cent.
Because Neste is the bigger of the two in petrochemicals, Statoil has
paid a large sum - several billion Norwegian kroner according to the
daily newspaper Aftenposten - to complete the deal. The two companies
will also negotiate an agreement on the sales of Statoil's oil gas, as
well as shares in Statoil's offshore holdings.
The new merged company will employ more than 6,000 persons and its annual
turnover will be an estimated USD 2.5 billion. It will be Europe's
biggest and the world's fifth biggest producer of raw plastics, producing
2.1 million tonnes of plastics at plants in Norway, Finland, Sweden,
Belgium, Germany, France, Portugal and the USA. It will also have
holdings in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
The merger will help both companies survive in a tough market. With the
currently low petrochemical prices, both Statoil and Neste have been
struggling to make profits.
"Petrochemical production will be a vital part of Statoil's activities in
the future. A solid strategic platform is required if we want to attain
our objectives in the increasingly competitive petrochemical industry.
The company is an answer to this challenge," explains Statoil C.E.O.
Harald Norvik.
norinform/2-3 29 June 1993
INDUSTRIAL LOCOMOTIVES PICK UP STEAM
Leading Norwegian industrial concerns and shipowning firms improved their
pretax results considerably in the first quarter and tertiary period of
1993. Among 22 major companies, 14 have progressed this year, but the
oil producers Statoil, Norsk Hydro and Saga Petroleum have pulled
hardest. Turnover growth has been weaker among companies that
cater to the domestic market, but several of them have increased profits
by cutting back on labour and other costs.
Even though record production of oil and pared costs are the main fuel
for the improvements, developments for other firms have also been
positive - including banks which are also getting back on track.
The average corporation in the following selection has increased its
pretax results by 11 per cent compared with the same period last year -
but this figure is probably too modest. Operating profits in typical
big corporations in the first period this year were 19 per cent higher
than in the comparable periods of 1992. Average growth was 24.5 per cent.
Shipowning companies report considerable gains in their freight earnings,
in part because of the strong U.S. dollar.
The following table shows the developments of results in the first
period of 1993 in millions NOK as well as per cent change from 1992)
Figures covering the first tertiary period are noted by a star - others
represent the first quarter.
../..
norinform/3 Cont.... 29 June 1993
0000000000000000800000000800000000080000000080000000800000008000000
RESULTS . Turn- . Change . Operat..Change .Pretax .Change
. over . in % . profits.in % .results.in %
0000000000000000500000000500000000050000000050000000500000005000000
Statoil . 20788 . 9,4 . 3430 . 19,5. 4112 .116,9
Norsk Hydro . 16465 . 5,2 . 1441 . 38,2. 882 .153,4
Kvaerner *) . 7768 . 24,9 . 362 . -18,1. 434 . 2,4
Aker *) . 5569 . 3,6 . 135 . 321,9. 87 .-66,9
Orkla *) . 5521 . 1,8 . 321 . 32,1. 303 .-27,0
Norske Skog *) . 2368 . -10,5 . -20 . . -92 .-21,7
Dyno . 1909 . 1,6 . 114 . -5,0. 75 . 17,2
Elkem . 1900 . -4,4 . 64 . . -35 . 69,8
Vard . 1551 . 22,0 . 11 . -83,3. -127 .
Hafsl. Nycomed. . 1383 . 7,8 . 365 . -11,0. 381 . 3,8
Saga *) . 1156 . -3,0 . 658 . 74,1. 640 .137,9
Rieber & Soen *) . 1097 . 7,9 . 53 . 23,3. 58 . 93,3
Bergesen *) . 946 . 14,1 . 74 . 19,4. 212 . 89,3
Alcatel STK *) . 822 . 5,4 . 33 . 61,9. 40 . 62,9
Schibsted . 671 . 1,4 . 56 . 47,4. 96 . 68,4
Veidekke . 641 . -14,1 . -46 . -16,3. -50 . -9,0
Leif Hoeegh . 608 . 10,3 . 101 . 12,2. 163 . 20,7
NAL *) . 518 . 15,9 . 54 . -8,5. 43 . -2,3
Unitor . 373 . 1,4 . 47 . 23,7. 43 . 4,9
Helikopter S. *). 354 . 3,8 . 50 . -21,9. 45 .-21,1
Kverneland *) . 249 . -5,3 . 4 . -82,6. -12 .
W. Wilhelmsen *). . . 123 . 64,0. 110 . 4,8
00000000000000000200000000200000000020000000020000000200000002000000
norinform/4 29 June 1993
NORWAY TAKES OVER EUREKA CHAIR
Norway's Minister of Industry and Energy, Finn Kristensen, was recently
in Paris to take over the chairmanship of EUREKA, which administers
cooperation in European research and industry. The rotating
chairmanship was passed on to Norway by France, and Norway's leadership
period is from 24 June 1993 to 15 June 1994.
A considerable share of European industrial research and development is
led by EUREKA, and it draws about USD 2-3 billion annually from
participating countries. Approximately 2,000 industrial companies
and 1,000 research institutes and public agencies take part in 650
projects.
Interest in EUREKA is strong in Norway. Norwegian companies and
research institutes have become involved in 22 new projects in the past
year, at an aggregate cost of about USD 24 million. The Norwegian
Research Council covers about 21 per cent of these expenses. The
Norwegian Industrial and Development Fund and several governmental
departments also contribute money to the projects, which represent the
entire spectrum of technological areas.
In Norway's year at the helm, special emphasis will be given to research
on the environment and environmental technology. Environmental concerns
will influence the technological and economic evaluations of each
project. Norway will also implement additional schemes to stimulate
project cooperation with Russia. The period will be capped by a
minister-level conference in Lillehammer in June 1994.
norinform/5 29 June 1993
SHARP RISE IN NORWEGIAN TECHNOLOGY EXPORTS
Norwegian hi-tech companies annually sell their wares abroad for upwards
of USD 4 billion. The business daily Dagens Naeringsliv has
estimated that such technological exports have increased by 90 per cent
in the past six years.
This means that hi-tech exports surpass the annual sales of such
traditional Norwegian export items as aluminium and other metals, in
addition to wood processed goods.
A domestic slump for technological products in 1986 corresponded
with an international demand, so firms were forced to focus on exports.
Regardless of a worldwide recession, such export growth has
continued in the 1990s. One of Norway's competitive advantages is the
relatively modest income paid to engineers.
According to Knut E. Sunde at the Federation of Norwegian Engineering
Industries, hi-tech firms will continue to fare better than the
traditional export trades. "Our members are far less susceptible to the
ups and downs of the business cycle," he claims.
But the export success has not led to more jobs. On the contrary,
employment in the hi-tech field has dropped by 17 per cent in six years.
norinform/6 29 June 1993
DIAMONDS FOUND ON ISLAND
The Geological Survey of Norway (NGU) has found microscopic diamonds
in the heavy multicolored rock eclogite, on the west coast island of
Fjoertofta in Moere og Romsdal county. Diamonds have previously been
found in this rock in only two other locations - in Kazakhstan and
Central China. The discovery has excited geologists - diamonds are
usually only found in volcanic pipes formed at great depths. But these
were created 400 million years ago in a subduction zone when Norway
collided with Greenland.
Director Bjoern A. Follestad at NGU says that geologists will now
investigate the southern areas of Moere og Romsdal and the northern parts
of its neighbouring county, Sogn og Fjordane, where eclogite is more
common.
NGU plans to extrude some of the diamonds from the rock to test whether
they can be profitably mined for industrial use as abrasives. Norwegian
geologists read about the other finds in gneiss rock in
Kazakhstan and China and sent the Fjoertofta samples to a laboratory in
Moscow. The lab work was led by Dr. Larissa F. Dobrsjinetskaja at the
Moscow Academy of Science, and she was the first to view the diamonds in
a microscope. She will now work with Norwegian geologists in further
analyses of the area.
norinform/7 29 June 1993
NEW POLAR EXCURSION IN NANSEN'S WAKE
It is 100 years since the Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen
departed on what is still one of history's most daring voyages. He
intentionally lodged his specially constructed sailing vessel "Fram"
in polar pack ice and drifted with it for three years, a feat that became
a pillar of modern oceanography. In this connection, the Nansen
Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre and the University of
Bergen recently hosted a conference of 250 for the world's leading polar
researchers and climatologists at a hotel on the outskirts of Bergen. A
new research voyage, the Nansen Centennial Arctic Programme, is being
planned to increase knowledge about the Arctic Ocean's role in the
global environment.
The programme board chairman, Professor Tore O. Vorren at the
University of Tromsoe, explains that a ship manned by 25 scientists
will drift across the Arctic Sea. Periodically, the research teams
will be replaced to allow 75-100 scientists, including ten from abroad,
to participate. Research camps will be set up on the ice at distances
of 100 km on either side of the vessel, and these will drift along with
the ship. Hovercrafts will be equipped as mobile laboratories to
shuttle between the camps and the ship. The project is expected to cost
USD 23 million.
Vorren says that a search is being made for a suitable vessel. The
offshore and shipping classification society, Det norske Veritas,
is assessing the requirements for a ship that could match the
strength of Nansen's legendary "Fram".
norinform/8 29 June 1993
FIRST NATIONAL PARK CENTRE OPENED
Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland recently opened the Jostedal
Glacier (Jostedalsbreen) National Park Centre. It is the country's first
park centre and features comprehensive information about Norway's -
and mainland Europe's - biggest glacier. The centre is situated at a
scenic site by the Strynsvatn lake. The complex will now be tourists' and
glacial hikers' gateway to one of the most majestic natural areas in
Europe, which ranges from temperate oak groves to arctic landscapes.
In the information section, the public can view films that show off the
scenery, and exhibits describing the 17 other national parks in
Norway. A separate exhibit portrays the danger of the mountains and
pays tribute to the people who live in them. Another shows trips across
the glacier. A model of a west coast valley, 10 metres in length,
has been constructed. Here visitors follow the course of water from the
glacier, through valley communities and onwards to the sea - in
modern as well as bygone times. Fish native to Strynsvatnet, trout,
salmon, char and eel, all swim in the centre's aquarium. The new
building will also house the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute's centre
for avalanche research.
The Jostedal Glacier area became a National Park a year ago, largely
thanks to the efforts of the botanist and politician, Professor Olav
Gjaerevoll. He fought for the park during his period as chairman of
the National Council for Nature Conservation, and he has also backed the
new centre.
norinform/9 29 June 1993
GREY SEA EAGLE POPULATION DOUBLED
The stock of grey sea eagles in Norway has doubled in the past 20 years.
The bird has now been registered as far south as Rogaland county and is
also spreading inland. But North Norway, primarily Nordland county, is
still the home of most of sea eagles. The grey sea eagle is the biggest
feathered predator in Norway - its wingspan is 2.65 metres, over 8 feet.
In 1968 it numbered as few as 700-800 pairs, but its current estimated
population is 1,500 pairs. "These are sexually mature birds that have
staked out a particular territory," explains the head of the Norwegian
Ornithological Society, Alv Ottar Folkestad.
The main cause of the species' reduction was human encroachment, but from
1968 the bird has been protected by law. Not only has it thrived, it has
even begun to move closer to human settlements.
There are only 5,000 grey sea eagle pairs in the entire world and Norway
has the biggest stock. Accordingly, Folkestad says that Norway has a
special responsibility for the birds' preservation. They are already
extinct in England and Scotland. Despite an earlier protected status, the
eagles are not multiplying as successfully in Northeastern Europe.
norinform/10 29 June 1993
NORWAY TO SET ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS
In strong competition with the USA at a meeting in Canada in early June,
Norway was given responsibility for leading a work group that will
develop international environmental standards. The norms will function as
common criteria for companies to gauge themselves by the world over.
Managing Director Ivar Jachwitz at the Norwegian Standards Association
says that the job will provide Norway with an international platform that
will enable the country to set the premises for such work.
Standard regulations for what is called "environmental steering" will be
set first, and be followed up with "environmental profile standards".
These will function as a yardstick for assessing how environmentally
friendly a company's production process is. Jachwitz says that this gauge
will consist of elements such as the use of non-renewable raw materials
and energy sources.
HYDRO COOPERATION IN JAPAN
Two of the world's biggest light metals producers, Hydro aluminium and
the Japanese corporation Sumitomo, have made a preliminary agreement to
cooperate on aluminium production for the automotive industry. Aluminium
reduces a car's weight, and hence its fuel consumption, which in turn
improves the environment. The use of aluminium in automobiles is expected
to double within the next ten years.
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