There has been some disinformation in the media concerning the Underwater Technology Conference and other petroleum exhibitions concentrated in Western Norway.

The UTC is hosted by The Underwater Technology Foundation (UTF). The UTF was set up during the pioneering period of the Norwegian petroleum era and arranged the first Underwater Technology Conference in 1980.

The organization was formed by a group of key companies in the oil industry, in cooperation with classification, research and finance institutions in the Bergen area. The conference in 1980 was an immediate success followed by conferences every second year until 2010 when it was decided to make the UTC as a yearly event and with UTC2011 will be the 17th UTC and thereby the longest subsea conference being performed.

The UTC has always been arranged in Bergen since this is a major place for operation and maintenance of subsea well & installation world wide. The conference has a well known history of presenting highly competent speakers on current and important topics regarding the subsea industry. From being a conference merely focused on NCS and participation from Norwegian industry, the conference has developed to be an international arena where engineers and managers from many countries can meet and get valuable input and get acquainted with what’s going on within the subsea industry. Along with this development towards a more international participation, the exhibition part of the conference has increased with nearly 60 companies participating.

As a recognition of the conference being of major importance is the fact that the His Majesty Crown Prince Haakon has informed that he will attend during the opening and main key note speakers of day 1. By this UTF looks with high expectations for the years to come in our efforts to further develop and expand the conference.

Conference will be held from 8- 9 June in Grieghallen, Bergen.

Source: utc, May 13, 2011;