Fact box 5.5 - KonKraft (competitiveness of the NCS)

KonKraft is a collaboration arena for the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association, the Federation of Norwegian Industries, the Norwegian Shipowners Association and the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), with two LO members – the United Federation of Trade Unions and the Norwegian Union of Industry and Energy Workers.

A KonKraft report in 2018 presented recommendations and proposals for improving the competitiveness of the NCS, including a number which related to digitalisation and collaboration.

An important overall point is that industry coordination was essential for realising the potential offered by digitalisation measures. KonKraft observed that the petroleum sector is among the industry which has made the least progress in realising the efficiency and productivity benefits of digitalisation, data accessibility and flow, and collaboration between players. It referred to a McKinsey report which estimates the total annual potential for savings from digitalisation on the NCS to be NOK 30-40 billion.

One KonKraft recommendation was for a collective and industry-led initiative to work on measures which involve new forms of digitalised interaction between players in the oil and gas industry. It wanted to see common standards and protocols for storing, sharing and using data [18].