Statoil has decided on June 24, 2016, to launch a large project to write the story about the company for its 50th anniversary in 2022. The University of Oslo has been chosen the main supplier in a project that will also involve other Norwegian research institutions.
«Statoil’s history» will be a historical fact-based research project to be ready for the company’s 50th anniversary in 2022. The project aims to acquire new knowledge about Statoil and the petroleum activity’s significance to society through 50 years and convey it to the public. The project is also to be a professional training tool for coming generations.
The end product will include a history in two volumes and a comprehensive website that will be integrated with the books and provide further images, films and sound.
«We have high ambitions for this project, as it will cover much more than the company’s history, it will also convey Norwegian history,» says Statoil’s head of Corporate Communication, Reidar Gjærum, who will lead the steering committee for the history project.
«Statoil has chosen the Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History at the University of Oslo to be in charge of the project. They have the largest historical researcher community in the Nordic countries, and good experience from former comprehensive and relevant history projects,» says Gjærum.
Professor Einar Lie will be project manager. Statoil has also included a specific requirement of involving other key research institutions in the work.
«As a historian, I am pleased with Statoil’s initiative. It will help enhance knowledge, both in research institutions and in society at large.
It is an expression of openness and trust that we can access extensive and new documentation, and will also have the opportunity to delve deeply into the more controversial aspects of the company’s creation and development. Furthermore we will have the freedom to write about this in our own words,» says professor Lie of the University of Oslo.
«We will now make funding announcements and carry out a PhD project and two post-doctoral projects, in addition to offering grants to students for writing a larger number of master’s theses,» continues Lie.
