Paper short abstract:

Data from interviews with energy researchers are presented to shed light on how knowledge is co-produced between oil and gas industry actors and private and public research institutions, and whether such co-production serves to prolong fossil fuel era or engender a green transition.

Paper long abstract:

We have in the past years seen traditional oil companies make substantial efforts to transform themselves into energy companies with expanded repertoires needed to face the impending energy transition. This poses the question of what role oil and gas companies have in contributing to a sustainability transition. The Norwegian Oil and Gas sector is a large center of carbonization on a global scale, but strategies of de-carbonization of the operation of the fields as well as the consumption of fossil fuels are being developed alongside it. These include for instance carbon capture and storage (CCS), but also electrification of the installations themselves by connecting them to the mainland grid or by powering them with offshore wind energy. This last strategy has seen large oil and gas actors turn some of their investments into renewable energy technology.

Not only is the sector itself working on decarbonization strategies, but knowledge communities within both private and public research institutions are as well, some of them even by the help of funding from the oil and gas sector. It has been argued that this cooperation may put knowledge production at risk of serving to prolong the fossil-fuel era, instead of bringing a speedy transition towards renewables. Preliminary findings from ~50 interviews with oil and gas sector related research actors are presented, to shed light on how researchers and oil and gas industry actors co-produce knowledge related to both a continuation of oil as well as a green transition.