Does female identity fit with a male-dominated culture? This question has been explored by Ragne Ervik for a master’s thesis in social anthropology which focused on women working on Ekofisk.

The special contribution made by Knut Åm to Phillips Petroleum Company was one reason for his appointment in 2014 as a Knight First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav.

More than forty-five years of service on Ekofisk underpin Knut Ove Kristensen’s status as a pioneering leader on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). His involvement began in 1974 when he switched from a career at sea to become a process technician for Phillips Petroleum.

Henry Munkejord was among the people present at the Ekofisk discovery in the autumn of 1969, 50 years ago, when he worked as a roughneck for drilling company Odeco on Ocean Viking.

A long-standing quarrel between the offshore workforce and the ConocoPhillips management was finally laid to rest in March 2008, when sharing of sleeping quarters ended on Ekofisk.

ConocoPhillips launched a major commitment to integrated operations in 2002 when it established an onshore drilling centre (ODC) at its office in Tananger outside Stavanger.

The Ekofisk Committee, which had been the first union on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) in its day, joined the Norwegian Oil and Petrochemical Workers Union (Nopef) at the end of 1998.

All Phillips employees got a little extra in 1997, when a results-based bonus was introduced to “motivate personnel by rewarding a good effort when the company met the targets it had set.”

During the 1990s, when oil prices were relative low, operators on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) were being encouraged by the government to collaborate across fields.

The onshore logistics centre (OLC) at the ConocoPhillips offices in Tananger began round-the-clock logistical coordination of vessels sailing to and from Ekofisk during September 2010.

Both exploration and production drilling are pursued in the Greater Ekofisk Area. As their names imply, the first type is involved in finding resources and the other in getting them out. Positioning production wells correctly is important for optimising recovery.

When an oil or gas field in the Greater Ekofisk Area came on stream, its management was taken over by the process operators who were employed by the operator company. They monitored that petroleum production was optimal, and were responsible for commissioning a response should any problems arise.

The company’s safety philosophy was originally presented in a handbook as far back as the start to production in the Greater Ekofisk Area. One of its basic rules still applies: “Our work is never so urgent or important that we cannot take time to do it safely and in an environmentally responsible manner”.

The offshore installation manager (OIM) is the person in overall charge of a facility. To cover the tour rotation system, each platform has three of them. A key part of their job is to ensure that operations are conducted within the safety parameters set by the operator and required by the regulator.

This unit comprised a number of support personnel who were needed at the production site. Only production engineers are now left on the field, with most back-up functions moved ashore.

A constant flow of traffic carries people and goods between Ekofisk and the mainland. Ships, helicopters and their crews represent important transport partners for an offshore industry which could not manage without them. In addition, great quantities of data are transferred internally every day out on the field and between the platforms out at sea and functions on land.