Our ability to utilise the company's world-leading technology, execute projects in complex surroundings and demonstrate our core expertise in new markets is of vital importance in terms of opening up new business opportunities. The fight for global resources is fierce, but familiar to StatoilHydro. The real challenge lies in local markets, local practices, new standards and new cultures. These unfamiliar settings affect price, availability, quality and lead times for deliveries. 

We have a growing portfolio of international projects, such as the In Salah gas compression project in Algeria, the development of the Iranian gas field South Pars phases 6, 7 and 8, and the Leismer demonstration project for heavy oil recovery in Canada - as well as the major heavy oil project off the coast of Brazil, Peregrino, which is 100% StatoilHydro-owned and operated.

On the NCS, there is a growing need to redevelop existing fields and installations. As fields mature, production equipment needs upgrading. In the years ahead, an increasing number of fields will need upgrading or renewal of drilling units, control systems, hydrocarbon processing systems, cranes and other major redevelopment efforts.

Developing sustainable solutions for clean renewable energy with a sound financial rationale is a key element in the group's strategy. We anticipate an increased focus on new energy projects in the years to come. In this context, the pre-sanctioning of two offshore wind projects, namely Hywind and Sheringham Shoal, were important milestones for PRO in 2008.

In order to handle our projects in the most efficient way, we intend to use inter-field project organisations to standardise tasks and continuously search for synergies between projects and contracts.

We are dependent on the cooperation of a highly professional supply industry. We therefore seek to secure a high degree of diversity among our suppliers, and are continuously on the lookout for innovative solutions and access to the best qualified expertise and external resources.

Securing sufficient flexibility in changing market conditions is a key focus area and we expect our suppliers to adjust accordingly. We have seen increasing expenditure in the recent past but, given the current worldwide economic situation, the time has come to optimise costs while improving quality, productivity and efficiency in collaboration with our suppliers. In consequence, we expect supplier costs to be reduced in the time ahead.