The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) started the development of a regulatory framework for different petroleum activities immediately after its establishment in 1972. The majority of the technical regulations developed in the following 10-15 years were written by NPD's own employees in close cooperation with the workers- and employers- associations in what is described as the "tripartite cooperation". In some areas internationally developed standards and norms, which could be referenced, were available. However, in other areas the specific environmental aspects relating to operation in the North Sea had to be incorporated in new technical guidelines. The New Petroleum Legislation in 1985 introduced functional and goal setting requirements for the first time. In the early nineties, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy took an initiative towards the large operating companies on the Norwegian Continental Shelf to develop common technical specifications, incorporating best practice for the relevant geographical area, and referencing internationally accepted standards like ISO, the sc~called "NORSOK initiative". This development allowed NPD, in 1998, to issue new regulations, where several of the previously developed technical guidelines were substituted by references to national and international standards. The philosophy of utilizing globally available standards and norms has been taken even further in the extensive redevelopment of the entire Norwegian petroleum regulation that came into force January 2002. A change from internal development to participation in national and international standardisation organisations has resulted in a renewed focus on knowledge management within NPD.
Key words: Regulation, material selection, pipelines, industry standards, corrosion protection, knowledge management