Rolls Royce to the Russian Arctic

During a visit to the company’s production facilities in western Norway, Minister Støre confirmed to newspaper Dagens Næringsliv that he is promoting the company in meetings with Russian companies.

The British company, which has key parts of its marine division in Norway, has for some time sought to establish itself in Russia. That has not been successful, and the company now admits that it needs help from the political level to get into the market.

-We are standing at a crossroads. The North Sea is in decline, and the High North is very interesting for us. However, to get into Russia, we are absolutely dependent of political assistance, leader of the company’s offshore division Anders Almestad says to the newspaper. Russia over the next years plans major investments in its High North, both in oil and gas facilities, the fishing fleet and in shipping.

Foreign Minister Støre during the visit confirmed that he intends promote the company.

-I will remind the Russians about your existence, he told the company leaders. He also did not exclude that he will mention the company in meetings with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. At the same time, the minister underlined that it is the companies themselves which have to do the business, and that the role of the authorities only is to facilitate the conditions.

Rolls Royce specialized in the aerospace, marine and energy sector. In its marine division, the company does design, development, supply and support of products and systems for commercial and naval customers.