The Petronord agreement expires

The company emphasised the very important role played by the deal both for its development and for its financial position. But several clauses in the agreement no longer fitted with Hydro’s plans for the future.[REMOVE]Fotnote: Letter from Norsk Hydro of 20 June 1977, addressed to Total Marine Norsk A/S, Elf Norge A/S and Aquitaine Norge A/S, and signed by Torvild Aakvaag. File 7, Jøssang and Lindager archive

French companies Elf, Total and Aquitaine offered Hydro a contract which would run for a further 20 years. They were willing to renegotiate the old agreement, and if necessary to leave future operator agreements to the Norwegian company. Hydro signalled a willingness to continue collaborating, but on condition that it was allowed to take over as the Heimdal operator.

This field was a suitable size for Hydro and lay near the Frigg installations. Elf refused to relinquish the operatorship, with the result that the negotiations broke down and the Petronord alliance was dissolved. Collaboration on Frigg nevertheless continued as before. The original agreement had specified that a possible cancellation would not affect exclusive licences which were still in force.