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Doing Business with Norway. Did you know that Norway…. Covers 1,100 miles from south to north – same distance as from Oslo to Rome or New York to Miami?. Encourages its citizens to submit income tax returns by cell phone?.
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Did you know that Norway… • Covers 1,100 miles from south to north – same distance as from Oslo to Rome or New York to Miami? • Encourages its citizens to submit income tax returns by cell phone? • Ranked 1st on UN’s index of best countries to live in for 5 years in a row? • Is the world’s 3rd largest exporter of both oil and gas? • Produces 99% of its electricity based on renewable hydropower? • Has a GDP per capita higher than the United States? • Is extremely ICT savvy – that 85% of 10 year olds have cell phones? • Was chosen by Google for location of its latest R&D facility? • Has the largest investment fund in Europe, valued at $300 billion – same as GDP? • Is currently building Europe’s first export terminal for LNG?
NorwayMajor Economic Sectors US - Norway Trade • $10.5 billion total. • $4.5 billion in petroleum from Norway. • $2 billion in machinery, ICT and transportation equipment from the US. • Energy - Oil/Gas/Renewables • ICT • Shipping/Marine Technology • Fisheries/Aquaculture • Metals • Pulp and Paper • Defense and Aerospace • Environmental Technologies • Travel and Tourism
NorwayBusiness Climate • World-class telecommunication infrastructure and very high ICT literacy. • Extensive transportation network by air, sea and roads – roads in some rural areas can be a challenge. • Modern logistics and distribution centers. • Predictability and stability. • High ethical focus. • Traditionally active state sector – strong labor movement. • High taxes – direct and indirect; marginal rates of about 50%, Value Added Tax of 25%, high fuel and auto taxes, and high “sin” taxes. • Relatively low costs for highly skilled engineers/scientists. • High labor costs/short working hours/long vacations. • Selling Factors • Norwegian companies are generally willing to pay for quality. • To Norwegians “new” is not necessarily better. • Hard selling techniques will get you nowhere in Norway. • Norwegians are typically not “tactical” negotiators; if they say your product is too expensive, they probably mean it.
NorwayOil and Gas Sector • Major Annual Investments • Norway’s most significant industry. • Projected 2007 investments: $17 billion. • 3 million barrels produced every day. • Production only offshore. • Statoil and Hydro are major customers and will merge in 2007; Statoil places orders for $5-6 billion annually from local suppliers. • United States holds strong position. Oil companies include ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Marathon, and Amerada Hess.
Oil and Gas Equipment and Services • Best Prospects – Technology in Demand • Advanced subsea and deepwater technology for extreme arctic waters… • CO2 handling - carbon capture and storage. • LNG value chain technology. • E-field – technology facilitating remote/onshore, real-time operations. • Marginal field technology, enhanced recovery, tail-end production. • High and growing focus on new and advanced environmental technologies. • Technology facilitating cost reductions of any kind. • Decommissioning/abandonment technology – alternative use of installations.
Renewable Energy Green Technologies • Best Prospects – Technology in Demand • C02 capture and storage. • Wind power. • Hydropower. • Solar power. • District heating. • Geothermal energy. • Waste incineration technologies. • Tidal power and wave energy. • Electric vehicles – battery technology. • Alternative fuel and fuel efficiency – vehicles/ships.
Innovative ICT Industry Seeks Sophisticated Solutions • Large public ICT contracts: new national pension reform, bank ID/biometric ID cards, citizen portals. • Applications for energy sector: real-time remote operations for extreme conditions, advanced seismic data visualization software, security systems. • Applications for healthcare technologies: telemedicine, electronic patient records, data handling/storage, logistics software. • IP technology, Internet and wireless services and content, non-voice services, advanced security measures. • Shipbuilding and offshore design, simulation and construction solutions, logistics software. • Enterprise Resource Planning software for SMEs.
Healthcare TechnologiesBiotechnology • 85 state-owned hospitals managed by four regional health enterprises. • Current investment plans valued at $3 billion. • $250 million annually in medical equipment procurements. • Telemedicine/e-medicine growing in importance. • Reduction of occupancy rates – cutting overall costs. • Biotech • Cancer research. • Marine biotech/Aquaculture. • Bioprospecting. • Biobanks. • Animal biotech.
Competitive Shipping and Offshore Cluster • Norwegianfleet 5th largest in the world. • Fleet of mobile offshore rigs 2nd largest, after the United States. • 15% of world fleet for offshore services. • Two of the three largest ship brokerages. • 10% of world’s maritime banking services. • Underwriters account for 20% of insurance. • Norwegian classification companies classify 15% of world tonnage. • Oslo Stock Exchange regarded as the world’s largest shipping exchange.
USA Pavilions at Trade Shows • Nor-Shipping 2007 • Oslo – June 12-15, 2007 • (Shipping and Maritime) • Reiseliv 2008 • Oslo – Janurary 10-13, 2008 • (Travel and Tourism) • Offshore Northern Seas 2008 • Stavanger – August 26-29, 2008 • (Oil and Gas)
Following Up Please contact us to take advantage of U.S. and Norwegian trade and investment opportunities. The American Embassy in Oslo’s Web site is “http://norway.usembassy.gov”; the Commercial Section’s is “www.buyusa.gov/norway.” Thank you!