With more responsibilities on its plate, Norwegian Petroleum Directorate gets new name

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), a state-level specialist directorate and public administrative body reporting to the Ministry of Energy, has changed its name to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) to reflect additional responsibilities associated with carbon capture and storage (CCS), offshore wind and seabed minerals.

After the NPD’s scope of work was extended to include new and emerging sectors in the offshore industry, a rebranding was carried out. The new name, which takes into account new responsibilities, came into effect on January 2, 2024.  

Furthermore, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate explains that its primary objective is to contribute to “the greatest possible values for society from the oil and gas activities through efficient and prudent resource management, where due consideration is given to health, the environment, safety, as well as other users of the ocean.”

While regulations and agreements will be continued, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate underlines that its services may be unstable or down for brief periods, due to the need to transition IT systems in connection with the name change. Currently, steps are being taken to fix this as quickly as possible.

Norway’s offshore safety regulator, the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA), also changed its name on January 1. The regulator’s new name is the Norwegian Ocean Industry Safety Authority (Noisa).