The history of NorLense

NorLense AS was established at Fiskebøl, Norway in 1975, and has since been a market leader in development of the oil spill recovery equipment we see today.

After a development period, sales took off in 1978. When a blowout occured in the Norwegian part of the North Sea in 1977, the Bravo incident, the Norwegian government decided to establish a national preparedness center with 15 depots along the coast. NorLense was awarded the contract for production and testing of new offshore oil containment booms for all 15 depots. 

Developing of the Ring-Boom and the Oil Trawl, a market revolution!

Development has always been an important part of the activity in NorLense, and during the period of 1988 to 1992, great resources were put into developing what later was known as ‘’Ring-boom’’ with self-inflation. This boom was a market revolution in itself, as deployment and retrieval of the equipment required both less time and less demand for resources, resulting in simplified training and exercises which made arranging exercises less demanding and held more often. An important improvement with regards to successful future oil recovery!

The Ring-boom became the new standard for the oil companies and oil field preparedness in the North Sea during the 90’s.

Later it became the standard type of offshore boom for the preparedness in the NOFO-system*. This “oil spill organization” oversees the preparedness in Norway on behalf of the operating oil companies on the Norwegian continental shelf, and has been a trendsetter for oil spill preparedness worldwide. This has resulted in sales for NorLense in all countries which has adopted the same preparedness structure against oil spill.

Between 2010-2013, NorLense developed a system named the NorLense Oil Trawl. A record-breaking concept when it comes to collecting and retain collected oil. During realistic tests, the system shows a unique efficiency with over 90% Recovery Efficiency, with a relative speed of up to 5 knots-much faster than traditional system.