Highlights from the Norwegian Secretariat As we come to the close of the Norwegian
Norsk Hydro as sponsor. That October in Tianjin,
term as host of the IGU Secretariat, we take
China, the IGU Council elected Norway to take
the opportunity to reflect on and highlight
over from Denmark for a six-year term starting
developments that have taken place in the last
on November 1, 2007, based in Oslo.
nine years. In what was to become the longest x Tore Torvund, Executive Vice President, Norsk Hydro Produksjon AS (left) and outgoing IGU Secretary General Peter Storm signed the agreement for Norway to host the Secretariat in September 2007. Behind them are Erik Gonder, Torstein Indrebø, Gro Mjellem, Secretary General of the Norwegian Petroleum Society and Hans Riddervold.
In the run-up to the changeover, Norsk
tenure in the Union’s history the Norwegian
Hydro’s oil and gas activities were merged
Secretariat has worked with four Presidents,
with those of Statoil while Norway’s original
from Argentina, Malaysia, France and the USA,
candidate for Secretary General, Petter Nore,
coordinating with them and assisting in dev
stood down for personal reasons. Statoil
eloping the work of IGU with great success.
became the sponsoring company and Torstein Indrebø the candidate for Secretary General.
Norway Becomes the Host of the
Torstein Indrebø was elected by the IGU
IGU Secretariat
Council in October 2007 in St Petersburg,
The process that led to Norway becoming the
Russia and worked with the outgoing Secretary
host of the IGU Secretariat began in 2005 with
General, Peter Storm, to ensure a smooth
a proposal from the Charter Member of IGU for
changeover. Operations in Oslo began on
Norway, the Norwegian Gas Association, with
schedule on November 1, 2007. Work under the Argentine Presidency, 2006-2009 The transition took place during the first year of the Argentine Presidency of IGU under their theme “The Global Energy Challenge: Reviewing the Strategies for Natural Gas”. An important goal of the presidency was to make IGU into an effective voice for the promotion of natural gas in the global energy matrix. With the work and responsibilities of the Secretariat therefore set to grow, additional permanent staff were recruited and a second secondee also joined the team. IGU’s secondment programme had been launched in October 2005 with the first secondee joining the Danish Secretariat in 2006. The programme provides an opportunity for IGU members to second young employees to positions in the Secretariat where they gain career development and a wider understanding
136 H i g h l i g h t s f r o m t h e N o r w e g i a n S e c r e t a r i a t