Delegates from across the North Sea offshore energy sector are gathering in Norway’s oil and gas capital Stavanger this week for the 50th anniversary of ONS.
More than 60,000 visitors from 94 countries attended the last ONS event in 2022, and this year over 1,000 speakers will take to the stage across the four day programme.
The 2024 event is centred on the theme of ‘Imagine‘, with climate change and energy security a key focus for organisers.
Speaking to Energy Voice earlier this year, ONS president Leif Johan Sevland said he is “concerned” at the pace the world is reducing carbon emissions.
The bi-annual event is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, however, much has changed since Elon Musk kicked off the show two years ago.
Geopolitical activities have made “the total energy picture in Europe different from what it used to be,” said Sevland, who is a former mayor of Stavanger.
“I think there’s a realism in the energy transition which also has come. We see that oil and gas will be needed for a longer time than people expected.
© Supplied by ONS / Tord F Paulsen“We see a lot of innovators, a lot of people coming in with ideas, initiatives which is extremely fruitful. I know by experience that those initiatives, it’s going to grow and we could have new majors coming in off that.”
50 years of ONS in Norway
The first ONS was held in Stavanger in 1974, with guests including Norway’s then Crown Prince Harald V.
The event began to incorporate renewable energy events into the programme from 2008.
Energy security has become an increasingly key focus of ONS since 2018, when organisers formed a strategic partnership with The Munich Security Conference, a leading international security forum.
The 2022 event featured an address from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, with the event taking place just months after the Russian invasion.
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