Delegates from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate this week visited the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) to find out more about SFF Services Limited (SFFSL), the commercial wing of the SFF and the coexistence between fisheries and marine industries.
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (Oljedirektoratet), headquartered in Stavanger, is a governmental specialist directorate and administrative body established in 1972 with the objective to ensure that Norway’s oil and gas activities are managed efficiently and responsibly, to ensure the greatest benefit for Norwegian society.
During a rewarding and informative meeting, both sides spent time sharing similar experiences and lessons learned in UK and Norwegian waters.
Meeting with Steven Alexander, managing director of SFF Services Ltd (SFFSL), Jan Stenløkk, Geologist and Marine Life Specialist, said “Our authorities on both sides of the North Sea are dealing with similar issues, and we are interested in finding out more about our neighbours’ practices, and regulation of activity.”
Steven Alexander added: “The SFF and SFF Services are delighted share our experience of engaging and building up relationships with the oil and gas industry over the last 40 years or so; we hope that this knowledge will help our Norwegian neighbours in dealing with similar issues and challenges. We have very much enjoyed our discussions today and look forward to building a rewarding on-going relationship.”
SFF Services Limited provides offshore marine industries with a range of vessel and personnel services including guard vessel and seismic survey support. Most recently SFFSL has begun to further diversify, adding drone deployment as well as ROV and AUV deployment to the range of services. The on-going relationship continues to benefit the offshore energy sector and the marine environment with over 500 different fishing vessels having undertaken offshore work (more than 90,000 days at sea) through SFFSL since 2001.