The Draugen platform has produced oil and gas with an overall value of roughly NOK 250 billion over the 25 years since it came on stream.

The Vestbase supply base in Kristiansund was opened in 1980. Along with a functioning heliport, it was crucial for Norske Shell’s decision to place the Draugen operations organisation in the town.

Oil and gas activities represent the most important industry in Kristiansund. They are also crucial for the town’s airport and not least for the construction and operation of its heliport.

Petroleum minister Eivind Reiten had nothing but praise for Norske Shell’s exemplary conduct when he laid the foundation stone for the Draugen platform on 28 August 1990.

Petoro is a partner in the Draugen licence, with a 47.88 per cent stake at April 2018. This state-owned company manages the government’s own oil-related holdings.

Norske Shell became the first oil company to locate an operations organisation to mid-Norway and Kristiansund – a choice supported by the government providing the local region benefitted.

A sorry picture of conditions in Kristiansund was painted by mayor Øyvind Jensen in an article which appeared during the autumn of 1988 in Dagbladet – an Oslo daily with a nationwide readership. “Are we going to be living in a ghost town?” he asked.

Trondheim had ambitions in the mid-1980s of building up an oil industry, and threw itself into the fight to secure the operations organisation for Draugen. That effort failed. The question is why.

Efforts to establish Kristiansund as the national subsea centre for the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) above the North Sea were initiated by the town council in the early 2000s.

VNG Norge AS became a Draugen partner in 2014 after acquiring Chevron’s 7.56 per cent interest in the licence as part of its long-term commitment to the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS).

Three companies were given a licence in March 1984 to explore for and produce petroleum in block 6407/9, where the Draugen field was subsequently discovered.

A/S Norske Shell opened its industry office in Kristiansund on Friday 17 November 1989. With Draugen due to be the first Norwegian field brought on stream outside the North Sea, this event was historic not only for the host town but also for the whole region.

Shell has pursued its global business operations for more than a century, building up one of the world’s best-known brands in the process.

Petroleum activity got going seriously in Kristiansund with the Draugen operations organisation in 1992. A review of its earlier history is needed to understand why a new industry, jobs and capital were so important for this west Norwegian port.

Great was the rejoicing when A/S Norske Shell first refined its own crude in Norway in 1967, with the official opening of the new facility at Sola outside Stavanger taking place the year after.

Activity on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) had become so large by the early 1980s that key politicians were concerned it could damage other industries in Norway. Several decisions by the Storting (parliament) were to affect planning and design for Draugen.