ESSAY: Optimism is Back; A visit to the Offshore Technology Days in Stavanger October 2019
OTD is the only annual meeting place for the Norwegian oil and energy industry and since 2006, the exhibition and conference has attracted more than 350 exhibitors and up to 18,000 visitors.OTD is the meeting place where professionals from the Norwegian oil and energy business meet and share technical and commercial experience. OTD offers many networking activities like BusinessHub, Contractors Market, Organization Park, OTD Students, conference and Octoberfest. Concentrated over two days, OTD is probably the most cost effective oil and energy exhibition of its kind.(https://www.offshoredays.com/about-otd/)
According to an engineer I meet at OTD, one of the most in demand pieces of equipment at the fair are bypass systems. In the event of damage or wear to pipelines of oil and gas installations, a temporary shutdown of production or flow is usually in order to repair the affected area. An efficient bypass valve may greatly shorten the downtime by rerouting the flow of oil or gas, allowing for the production to continue while the broken part or area is replaced. The engineer tells me that only 10 minutes of production shutdown at a platform or refinery can mean millions of kroner is lost.
The engineer works at a Scottish company claiming to make the best bypass valves on the market. This has given his company a great advantage and their products are highly sought after in the market. He explains to me the dilemma of whether to patent their products or not. By not patenting them it is easier to keep their design secrets to themselves because they don’t have to register their blueprints at a patent office. But if other companies still could come up with the same design, they in stead could go ahead and patent it, leaving his company behind in the technological race. On the other hand, by patenting them and registering their blueprints, this makes the drawings available for more people, which again allows for the technological gap to close because of other companies finding similar solutions and making similar products.
There is a known expression that time is money. To me there is something nervous about this expression, like its function is to be a reminder that the ideal condition is one of efficiency. When looking at the bypass valves displayed at the fair it strikes me how tightly connected these objects are with both money and time. They seem like a solid manifestation of the anxiety of slipping out of this efficient condition.The valves and their designs are driven by function. But here at OTD they are displayed almost as objects of desire. They are presented in a flattering light and staged on pedestals like elevated cultural objects or flawless designs of beauty. This is an interesting displacement of visibility when considering that we as consumers usually see only the commodities at the end of the chain of industrial production.
We usually don’t see these components of the industrial process but instead consume products further down the production line like clothing, any kind of plastic product, or any other product that is dependent on fossil fuel for its production. At Offshore Technology Days, the production equipment comes in to the light, showing that within the industry itself they are presented as desirable objects. This is in contrast to the efforts the petroleum companies seem to make to tone down the images of heavy industry. But after all you don’t sell a typical consumer product by showing the oil refinery that was needed earlier in the production line to make it.
I also see a sense of pride the gestures of display. I understand Offshore Technology Days to be a zone free of climate shame, where skillful engineering and cutting edge petroleum technology might be displayed, discussed and promoted within the industry. There are significant efforts being put into reducing the climate footprint of petroleum production, but it is difficult to escape the fact that its not in the production of the petroleum the majority of the Co2 emissions occure, but rather in the combustion, when the fuel is used. But this seems to matter less at OTD where industrial community and companionship prevails, like a celebration of a tradition of engineering and innovation that, to be fair, has created work and a vast income for Norway and its citizens. OTD may be a temporary venue sheltered from the increasing pressure from demands for more aggressive climate policy from the outside.
Later in the day I walk by the Archaeological museum on my way back to town. I decide to go in and as I go through their collections I see other shining metal objects from the nearby area, displayed in the same flattering light and staged on pedestals and in glass boxes. It shows a similar kind of proud display as the objects at the fair. Only these objects are about a thousand years older.
Photo: Arild Våge Berge