Crown Prince, a third generation of Norway’s Royal Family, who is likely to perform the official opening of Offshore Northern Seas ONS 2006, afternoon on August 22,2006, visited some of the exhibition pavilions.

He follows in the footsteps of his father, King Harald, who has opened the show on a number of previous occasions both as Crown Prince and as monarch, and his grandfather, King Olav. His mother, Queen Sonja, has also performed the official opening.

A total of 1 292 exhibitors - 50 per cent of them from outside Norway - have occupied just over 17 500 square metres of stand space divided between 10 halls and various outdoor sites.

There are 366 stands, but this figure includes 18 national pavilions which often house smaller stands. Twenty-three countries are represented in all.

All exhibition space was booked almost a year ago, and the waiting list for stands from companies keen to participate in Europe’s largest oil and energy event has been the longest ever.

More than 8 000 other visitors from no less than 87 countries had registered in advance for the exhibition by the end of last week, and total attendance is likely to top 30 0000.