About

Norske Shell’s history goes back over 100 years and today it operates as a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell producing oil and gas as well as operating petrol stations. Through its vast upstream business, the company operates a number of oil fields in the Norwegian shelf and co-owns productions licenses. Legal director Hans Olav Holmen heads up the legal department for the company and since recently joining has established himself as an important player in the senior management team. Since he joined, Norske Shell obtained approval from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to use the well intervention vessel, Island Constructor, for the start-up of a new well in the Draugen field located in the Norwegian Sea. Earlier in the year, the company also secured a three year contract with iSurvey Offshore who will provide rig and surface positioning services, subsurface positioning and dimensional control and platform surveys to Norske Shell’s mobile offshore drilling units. Holmen is an experienced and well-respected legal figure in Norway’s energy sector having enjoyed important roles in previous positions. For instance he was legal manager at BG Norge for over five years before joining his current employers. Immediately prior to that Holmen was senior counsel at ConocoPhillips Norge for almost six years from 2005 until 2011. He also had a five year spell at BP Norge and cut his teeth as an associate at law firm Våland & Staalesen from 1996 until 2000. He graduated in law from the University of Bergen (UiB).