Starting out with Statoil
With Pims in Statoil, the doors for Omega into the Norwegian oil market
became wide open. First for systems, then for personnel. Today, more than 250 Omega employees are on assignment for the
Norwegian oil giant.
Published: 13.01.13
1992: Advisor in Statoil, Sven-Olaf Jørstad is perplexed. The project
management systems in use are cumbersome, expensive and inflexible. He was
looking for a system adaptable to the real every day in project management.
“I did not need computer experts to make these systems. I needed project
management experts who knew computers,” Jørstad remembers.
Then he was introduced to a couple of guys who were working on some
systems for the oil industry. They called it Pims.
Systems making ways for people
«Here I had found someone who did not just know project management. They
were good at it. And they believed in what they did, almost religiously. I also
“converted” after the demonstration of Pims in 1993.”
Til Sven-Olaf Jørstad. Vi skal ha et brukervennlig system som er enklest mulig. Basert på dine vurderinger skal vi gå videre med Pims. Vennligst informer alle ansatte om dette. 21.09.1994
Avgjørelsen som skulle vise seg å for alvor bane vei for Omega inn i norsk oljebransje.
After having signed the first Pims contract that year, Omega’s systems
followed to one Statoil project after another; Tjeldbergodden Methanol project
on Nordmøre, Mongstad and Kollsnes outside Bergen, Kårstø near Haugesund and
Melkøya outside Hammerfest.
But it did not stop with Pims. Systems was only a door opener to what
was coming.
“When we started with consultant agreements during the late 1990s we
had already had Omega people around us for a while. We had wanted to have
people for training, and Omega had been ahead of time here: Current Product
Manager Johnny Vik and Department
Manager Svein Tore Haraldseid came to us, literally straight from school. And
they were all so dedicated, these Omega boys. Everyone noticed that. So why not
try more people from Omega?”
Consultant expansion
And as the opportunity with consultant agreements with Statoil arose,
the new beginners in the business were sweating over the tenders during late
nights in Ølensvåg.
“The agreements with Statoil were vital for us. The tenders were to be
delivered at 10:00 PM and we worked until 05:30 the same morning. Nerves were
at the breaking point,” former Omega CEO
Arne Gunnar Habbestad reminisce.
The consultant side of the business had been an important part of Omega
since the very beginning, but it was not until the early 2000s this became a separate
and RENDYRKET part of the company. Statoil became one of the really big
clients, and a springboard for Omega’s further expansion.
«With Tor-Erling Lunde’s knowledge of the industry and contacts in the
marked we had the knowledge on how to connect with the qualified and
experienced people we knew could do a great job for us. And when we got them on
board, we could not afford to lose them. We TVIHOLDT PÅ the expertise,” says
Habbestad, who steered Omega through one of the worst periods in the history of
the company.
Over kneiken
In 2000 the oil price was $10 a barrel. That was below production
value. Omega came through the year with
NOK 300 000 in profit while many others in the business struggled through
with a deficit.
“It looked glim. But that year we also got a lot RETT I FANGET: a lot of very qualified people who lost their
assignments elsewhere came to us. We knew their qualifications and what they
could do for us. And we did whatever we could to give them jobs: we gave them assignments
in TOOL SHEDS and whatnot, many jobs far from their area of expertise. And many
of those who came to us that year stayed with us, and we knew that these guys would
represent Omega with top expertise in Statoil as the first agreements were
signed and the marked came back on its feet,” says Habbestad, looking back.
The following years Omega passed 100 and 200 team members. The company
had reached its first milestones.