Our Arctic Neighbors: StatoilHydro funds education in northwest Russia

Norway’s StatoilHydro has held a ceremony to award education grants to Russians in the northwestern cities of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, the company said Jan. 23. StatoilHydro is partnering with Gazprom and Total to develop the first phase of the Shtokman gas field in the Russian part of the Barents Sea.

“This is a very important occasion for northwest Russia and StatoilHydro,” said Bengt Lie Hansen, president of StatoilHydro Russia. “We’re signing agreements to train local students for opportunities in the region’s emerging oil and gas industry. These programs are not only important for northwest Russia and the schools, but for StatoilHydro’s efforts to be an Arctic champion. Cooperation between people means that you believe in an idea. We believe in you and I hope you believe in us. Together, we can make a difference.”

Lie Hansen handed out grants to 10 welding and machine operator students and two teachers from Murmansk’s Lyceum No. 6. The students are aged 15-18 and many of those at the school grew up in orphanages. StatoilHydro is also giving grants to students at Arkhangelsk State Technical University.

“Russia’s offshore technologies are not yet developed and we need cooperation with technologically advanced companies,” said the university’s Kirill Izmikov, 20, a 2008 grant recipient and summer intern at StatoilHydro’s R&D centre in Porsgrunn last year.

StatoilHydro recognizes the acute shortage of qualified labor in the country’s far north, the company said. “The startup of extensive offshore oil and gas developments in Arctic Russia will demand qualified professionals. In addition to engineers and managers, we need skilled workers,” said StatoilHydro Russia’s head of industrial development, Benedikt Henriksen.

The Shtokman project will create roughly 1,700 new onshore and offshore jobs in northwest Russia, according to StatoilHydro.

—Sarah Hurst