70 in accordance with the Barents programme theory, or “philosophy”? It should be noticed here that these questions do apply not only to the project run by Barel, but to several other Barents projects as well. Notwithstanding the questions above, the project has several merits in terms of contributing to a cross-border region with an increased flow of labour and commodities. First of all, Barel works very seriously with the realities of the Russian system for certification, customs, and tax regulation. Already the business plan from 2001 gives good examples of insightful treatment of these questions, and since then Barel has coped professionally with the developments in the Russian legal and administrative surroundings. Dealing skilfully with not only the differences between Norway and Russia, but also with Russia’s intricate and rapidly developing legal context, Barel offers a good example to other Norwegian actors. Secondly, although it has taken time to install an efficient management in the company, Barel has been able to set up a firm that works.
3.2
Kimek – capacity building of Russian personnel within the oil and gas industry
#Institutions involved and funding. The project owner is Kimek Offshore as, Kirkenes, in close co-operation with Statoil. Kimek’s project partners were one Russian and one Norwegian training centre, the Training Centre of the Department of the Federal Public Employment Service in Murmansk and the Kirkenes Competence Centre. Both centres were experienced in vocational training at the outset of the co-operation. The steering group was set up of representatives from Statoil, the Barents Secretariat, Innovation Norway – Finnmark, Kirkenes Competence Centre and Kimek Offshore. Funding. The Barents Secretariat granted 560.000 NOK in 2005. The total cost of the project was NOK 5.1 million, which is more than originally planned due to unexpectedly expensive materials to be used in the training of welders and, not the least, start-up and management costs. The extra costs were covered by Kimek Offshore itself. In the contract between Kimek Offshore and Statoil (signed December 2004) the costs were to be shared with NIBR Report 2008:4
