What the 2025 numbers tell us — 826 operator delegates, 74.5% decision-influencers

Five numbers, one buying floor

OTD Energy 2025 ran two days at Stavanger Forum and pulled the full Norwegian Continental Shelf supply chain through three exhibition halls. The numbers below are the industry-standard scan count — each unique visitor registration counts twice (typical attendance pattern across the two days), the same convention used by every comparable European exhibition.

• 19,756 visits across the two days
• 826 operator delegates from 13 NCS operator brands
• 1,708 contractor professionals from the integrator, subsea and drilling layers
• 3,200+ unique companies represented (post-normalisation)
• 74.5% of visitors decision-makers, co-decision-makers or advisors

The operator side: every NCS licence-holder that turned up

Thirteen NCS operator brands sent delegates: Equinor, Aker BP, Vår Energi, ConocoPhillips, OKEA, Harbour Energy, TotalEnergies, Shell, OMV, Repsol, DNO, INPEX and Petoro. Equinor alone sent the largest delegation; the remaining twelve brands together accounted for the rest of the 826 total.

For exhibitors selling into the operator floor, this is the room. There is no other Norwegian event between ONS years that brings this concentration of NCS operator decision-makers under one roof.

The contractor side: who actually delivers the work

Operators commission. Contractors deliver. The 1,708 contractor professionals on the floor came from Tier-1 EPCI integrators, subsea-vessel operators, drilling specialists and the technology partners that subcontract across the chain — Aker Solutions, Aibel, Oceaneering, Archer, Baker Hughes, Subsea 7, TechnipFMC, NOV, Wood, DOF, Ocean Installer, DeepOcean and the rest.

If you supply this layer of the chain — fabrication services, hydraulic specialists, electrical integrators, MRO — your customers were on the floor. The 20 strongest contractor names by visitor delegation are listed on why OTD Energy.

The buying-authority breakdown

Of the visitors who answered the self-reported decision-authority question, 74.5% identified as decision-makers, co-decision-makers or advisors. The breakdown:

• Decision-maker — 29.9%
• Co-decision-maker — 20.8%
• Advisor — 23.8%
• Not involved in purchasing — 25.5%

The remaining 25% mostly accompany decision-makers (technical advisors, junior team members) or attend in observer roles. The "not involved" share is real and we report it honestly — but the working number for exhibitor pitches is the 74.5%.

Job-title mix on the floor

Top role categories among the 5,395 visitors who answered the role question:

• Sales — 18.6%
• Engineering — 14.2%
• Management — 13.7%
• Business Development — 10.4%
• Project management — 6.5%
• Procurement — 5.7% (307 procurement professionals — the densest of any Norwegian exhibition we have measured)
• Owner — 5.6%
• Consultancy — 4.2%

What this means for 2027 exhibitors

Three things. First, the audience is buyer-heavy and procurement-dense — the kind of room where lead-scanner volume matters less than a focused day of qualified meetings. Second, the operator concentration is structural: 13 brands consistently turn up, and outreach to them costs you nothing once you are on the floor. Third, the 1,708 contractor professionals are often the actual day-to-day buyers for tier-2 and tier-3 suppliers — operators set the strategy, contractors place the orders.