Norwegian subsea cluster group GCE Subsea announced it will change its name to GCE Ocean Technology as it widens its focus to include other ocean industries beyond the traditional oil and gas sector.
"Our new name gives us a more distinct identity and is more inclusive as it reflects, to an even greater extent, what is and will be the cluster’s focus areas in the years to come," the group said in a press release of Friday. The name change will take effect from February 1, 2019.
The revised strategy and rebrand reflects a green shift within the industry and the Norwegian government’s ocean strategy, which in addition to oil and gas, also includes renewable energy like offshore wind, tidal power and wave power.
"What is happening at present is that we are profiting from more areas than just oil and gas," explained Owe Hagesæther, Chief Executive Officer of GCE Ocean Technology. "We have branched out and people’s jobs have become more secure. We needed a new name to reflect these changes."
The cluster said it will maintain its focus on the oil and gas sector as it broadens its scope to also include renewable energy and other areas such as aquaculture and deep sea mining technology.
"These measures will contribute to opening up new markets and thereby enable growth." Hagesæther said. "Moreover, it will contribute to an improved cash flow, the creation of more jobs, the increase of export income, and to reducing the level of risk in our companies’ customer portfolio. They will also make the companies less dependent on oil and gas as they expand into new markets and become more differentiated."
"These changes have been spurred on by GCE Subsea succeeding with our present strategy. It has provided strong results and new opportunities we are now taking advantage of," Hagesæther said.