16 January 2014
New digital classroom in Hasvik
On 15 January, the island municipality of Hasvik in West Finnmark and Eni Norge opened a new, virtual resource centre. The aim is to make it easier for local people to study, reducing the restrictions created by large distances and long travelling times.
The principle behind the initiative is to make it possible for local people who wish to work in the oil and gas industry to improve their skills.
“Hasvik is an island municipality with 1,030 inhabitants located close to Eni Norge’s Goliat development off the West Finnmark coast. When it comes on stream, Goliat will be the first producing oil field in the Barents Sea. It is therefore natural for us to help improve skills in this area”, says Andreas Wulff, Eni Norge’s Director of external communications and public relations.
“The petroleum industry is continually moving northwards, and we want to ensure that Finnmark can offer a skilled workforce. The resource centre in Hasvik, which has a status as one of the municipalities within Goliat’s area of influence, is one of several measures we are using to attract new employees from this part of the country”, says Wulff.
The new digital system will be able to transfer audio and video in real time, as well as allowing documents and presentations to be transferred between educational institutions and the local classroom. This offers a completely new opportunity for access to a wide range of courses and school and university study options, independent of location. Until now, the large distances and long travelling times restricted the kind of education available to local residents.
“The development of the Hasvik resource centre has been an exciting joint venture involving Hasvik municipality and Eni Norge. Even though this classroom is in theory aimed at improving skills in the oil industry, it will also be available for education in other areas, such as health sciences and aquaculture”, says Eva Husby, Mayor of Hasvik.
The classroom has been set up in the municipal centre in Breivikbotn. The municipality is providing suitable premises, while Eni Norge is supplying most of the technical equipment. The total value of the investment is almost one million Norwegian kroner. A high-speed fibre optic network has also been installed.
As part of development of the Goliat field, Eni Norge has established a Goliat operations office in Hammerfest, with a staff of 40–60 persons. Combined activities onshore and on the Goliat platform will provide almost 200 jobs.
Eni Norge is part of Eni, the Italian integrated energy company, with about 78,000 employees in more than 90 countries.
Contact person:
Andreas Wulff, Director of external communications and public relations, Eni Norge, tel. mob. +47 926 16 759
Eva Husby, Mayor of Hasvik municipality, tel. mob. +47 917 20 862.