Scottish oil and gas service companies are in the Norwegian city of Stavanger for the Offshore Northern Seas (ONS) show which starts today.
More than 40,000 visitors from all corners of the planet are to attend the biennial event.
ONS runs until Friday and features 1,351 exhibiting companies from 32 nations.
ONS chief executive Kjell Ursin-Smith said: “This is the 19th ONS event and this year’s 20,432 square metres (219,928sq ft) of stand space makes ONS 2010 the biggest so far.
“ONS has now established itself as a meeting place for the entire global energy sector.”
More than 70 UK companies – many of them Scottish – are exhibiting. Other British firms, while not having stands, have delegates in Stavanger to attend the show.
Among exhibitors are Aberdeen-based ITF – the industry technology facilitator for the oil and gas sector.
Business-development manager Tony Zaccarini said: “ONS is a great platform for collaboration and this year we expect there to be a lot of debate about the many challenges facing the energy industry and discussions on the technologies that can increase resources in the safest way.
“We have seen many ground-breaking technologies come out of innovative Norwegian companies and our members have directly funded developers through joint industry projects, so we are looking forward to meeting contacts and making new ones.”
Directors of Aberdeen-based subsea specialist flexlife are attending ONS because they carry out a high level of work in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea and view the region as vital for future growth of the company.
Stuart Mitchell, its director of integrity, said: “We have had an exceptional response to our ground-breaking ultrasonic technology for flexibles and are in the process of bringing additional patented products to market that will bring major cost, environmental and personnel benefits to operators across the North Sea.
“We have expanded into Brazil and Asia-Pacific this year and will continue to internationalise our operations over the coming months.”
Eastern Airways sales manager Eileen McBay said: “ONS is an important event for Eastern Airways as it enables us to raise further awareness of our Stavanger-Aberdeen services as well as the comprehensive onward connections we offer from Aberdeen to other parts of the UK. We’ve taken part in ONS for a number of years and it gives us the opportunity to promote our services with corporate clients and travel agents related to the offshore industry.”
International industrial cleaning and waste management firm Sureclean, which has bases in Aberdeen and Alness, launched a Norwegian company in 2009 which has already generated high levels of sales: about 10% of overall turnover.
The company employs more than 100 staff across its five sites in the UK and Norway and invested £1.5million in new jetting equipment recently for operations in Norway.
Sureclean commercial director Graham McLellan said: “ONS gives Sureclean an excellent opportunity to let people know about the multi-skilled team and innovative, high-specification equipment we have located in the UK and Norway.”
