“The North Sea divers” – exhibition opened 22 June 2009 “The North Sea divers” – exhibition opened 22 June 2009
Published: 22. December 2015 Updated: 22. December 2015
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

A new exhibition “The North Sea divers” opened 22 June at the Norwegian Petroleum Museum in Stavanger to coincide with the publication of a history book of this industry.
Divers have played an important role in the Norwegian oil adventure. But establishing a new and unfamiliar industry presented substantial challenges. Technical barriers had to be breached in order for technical progress to be made. The pioneering divers on the Norwegian continental shelf did some of the toughest jobs, and many paid a very high price.

When the Storting (parliament) considered a 2002-3003 White Paper on these conditions, resources were allocated for the Norwegian Petroleum Museum to implement a documentation and educational project about North Sea diving and the pioneer divers. This programme was to embrace a historical work and an exhibition at the museum, which would both document the commitment made by these workers.

Published only in Norwegian, the Nordsjødykkerne book portrays the diving industry on the NCS. Authors Kristin Øye Gjerde and Helge Ryggvik have aimed at a broad and judicious presentation. They follow developments from the start of oil exploration in 1966 to the present day, and identify diving and divers as key players in the development of the offshore sector.

The North Sea diver exhibition ranks as the largest single project mounted by the Norwegian Petroleum Museum since it opened in 1999. Texts and graphics present diving in the offshore business, while interactive stations provide visitors with a hands-on experience of how challenging it is to work “at depth”.

That includes trying to communicate with the “Donald Duck” voice which afflicts divers when they try to talk while breathing a gas mixture which includes helium. This section of the exhibition, entitled “Senses of the deep”, also illustrates how complicated even the simplest job becomes when visibility is poor and your fingers are cold – a constant problem for the divers.

The main element in the show is a very special experience in new cinema, constructed in the centre of the exhibition area with a viewing area three metres high covering 175 degrees. This shows an animated film entitled “A North Sea dive”, which takes viewers on a saturation dive in 72 metres of water at the Ekofisk B platform in 1978. The job to be done is readying the oil pipeline running from this field to the UK.