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SINTEF buys into the Trondheim company ResLab

SINTEF Petroleum Research AS has purchased 10% of the shares of the Trondheim company ResLab - Reservoir Laboratories AS. From now on, the two companies will operate hand in hand vis-à-vis the international petroleum industry market.

ResLab's chairman Bernt Østhus and SINTEF Petroleum Research’s president David Lysne signed the deal under the supervision of  ResLab’s managing director Odd Hjelmeland and SINTEF President Unni Steinsmo.

ResLab emerged as a spin-off from SINTEF’s petroleum research milieu about 20 years ago, and is now a world-wide concern with seven overseas offices. In the course of the past few years ResLab has gained wide recognition and a number of awards for its aggressive international efforts.

SINTEF Petroleum Research’s president David Lysne says that the institute is considering opening offices in several locations around the world where ResLab is represented.

“This new alliance will enable us to make good use of ResLab’s international presence and infrastructure and to benefit from the company’s experience of opening offices in other companies. For its part, ResLab will benefit from having a giant research institute like SINTEF at its back”, says Lysne.


Complementary skills
The partners complement one another. SINTEF Petroleum Research is wholly owned by SINTEF. The institute has a staff of 110 and carries out research and development projects related to mapping and producing petroleum resources. ResLab has 160 employees and analyses oil and gas samples and drilling cores from reservoir rocks.


Exchanges of technology
The cooperative process will involve SINTEF Petroleum Research using ResLab as its partner in the commercialisation of technology in ResLab’s core areas. The intention is that ResLab will produce and sell equipment and analytical methods developed at SINTEF. ResLab’s managing director Odd Hjelmeland says that he sees great potential in this scenario.

“Cooperation with SINTEF will significantly improve the quality of our efforts in developing new products and services. By transferring parts of our research and development to SINTEF we will make our commercial focus even sharper. Generally speaking, having a partner like SINTEF behind us will strengthen our market position”, says Hjelmeland.


First licensing agreement signed
The two partners have already signed their first licensing agreement. ResLab will commercialise a measurement cell developed by SINTEF. The cell allows the behaviour of oil and gas to be measured under reservoir conditions.

Both companies are headquartered in Trondheim. SINTEF Petroleum Research also has offices in Bergen, Stavanger and Houston. ResLab also has an office in Stavanger, as well as laboratories in Oman, Abu Dhabi, Iran, Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil, in addition to two labs in the UK.

In 2004, SINTEF Petroleum Research had a turnover of NOK 115 million, 45% of which came from projects for overseas clients. ResLab’s turnover last year was MNOK 134, 65% of this total coming from areas beyond the Norwegian continental shelf.

Contact in SINTEF Petroleum Research: 

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Text and photo by Svein Tønseth