Energy Norway 2026

Outside Tjodhallen.

Contributors:

• Alejandro Escalona, Centre Director, NCS2030
• Helge Bøvik Larsen, Dean, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Stavanger
• Kent Høgseth, Chair of Board, NCS2030 and Principal Advisor to management, DNO

Session host: Atle Blomgren​, NORCE

Participants:

• Atle Blomgren, Senior Researcher, NORCE: "Productivity spillovers. Offshore petroleum as Norways’ Space Race?​"
• Torfinn Harding, Professor, Kristiania: "Oil Extraction Beyond the West: The Role of Western FDI"
• Ole Kvadsheim, PhD candidate, UiS: "Can and Should Petoro Be Used to Correct Market Failures?"

Summary and questions.​

Host: Alejandro Escalona, UiS

Participants:

• Daniele Blancone, PhD candidate, UiS
• Veronika Abdulina, PhD candidate, UiS
• Reagan Kabogozza, PhD candidate, UiS
• Cathrine Eliassen, Head of Reservoir Management, Harbour Energy
• Thomas Lerdahl​, Vice President, OKEA

Session host: Stephane Polteau (IFE)

Speakers:

• PhD Daniele Blancone, UiS: "Underground Hydrogen storage in the NCS: Assessing the potential, mitigate the risks" ​
• Postdoc Nisar Ahmed, UiS​: "Deep learning network for petrophysical property estimation from seismic angle stacks: 3D application to the Troll Field"
• Senior Scientist Stephane Polteau, IFE: "WELLFATE: Understanding fluid migration near offshore wells"

Summary and questions.​

Session host: Enrico Riccardi​, UiS

Speakers:

• Aruoture Voke Omekeh, Senior Researcher, NORCE: "Unlocking tight gas reservoirs in the Norwegian Continental Shelf"​
• Geir Ersland, Professor, UiB: "Flow visualisation - lab scale opportunities for tight
  reservoirs"
• Samuel Kvernes, Chief Early Phase Development, AkerBP: "Early Phase Development of unconventional reservoirs in AkerBP"

Summary and questions.​

3-course dinner at Clarion Hotel Stavanger, Arne Rettedals gate 14, from 18:00.

Session host: Randi Valestrand​, NORCE

Speakers:

• Mostafa Mohammadi, PhD Candidate, UiS: "Analysis and calibration of exploration forecasts on the NCS"​
• Nan Zhang, Researcher, UiS: "Building Trusted Collaboration from Data to Decisions" ​
• Tobias Klemm, Project Leader R&D Decision Optimization, Equinor: "Structured Decision Analysis for Complex Decisions: Insights from Pilot Studies" ​

Summary and question​s.

Host: Ying Guo, NORCE

Theme: How to cross the innovation dead valley?

Participants:

• Johan Kristian Sveen, Research Director, IFE
• Øystein Espelid, Manager, Equinor
• Tron Golder Kristiansen, Chief Engineer, AkerBP
• Marcelo Castro, Director of the Centre for Energy and Petroleum Studies, UNICAMP​

1-minute stand-up

Session host: Daniel Kiss​, IFE

Speakers: 

• Lawrence H. Wang, Researcher, IFE: "ML in subsurface forward modelling"​
• Viktoriya Yarushina, Department Head, IFE: "Advancing Engineering Solutions: Robust THMC Modeling of Subsurface Fluid Migration"
• Tron Golder Kristiansen, Chief Engineer, AkerBP: "Geomechanical advances and challenges from an industry perspective" ​

Summary and questions.​

Session host: Thomas Lerdahl, OKEA

Speakers:

• Øystein Espelid, Manager, Equinor: "Predicting the future and acting today – How Equinor works for energy efficient operations on the NCS from a subsurface perspective"
• Reza Askarinezhad, Senior Researcher, NORCE: "New water shutoff chemicals and LCA"
• Børre Antonsen, Principal Scientist, IFE: "Near-wellbore modelling for tight reservoirs"

Summary and questions.​

Closing remarks with Professor Eric Saenger, Head of Scientific Advisory Committee, NCS2030.