OREANDA-NEWS. July 02, 2014. Technology, engineering and project management company Neste Jacobs recommends, on the basis of the evaluation the company carried out, the establishment of Arctic Environmental Protection Centre in Finland. Neste Jacobs was elected to carry out the evaluation on the basis of a public bidding competition arranged by the Finnish Ministry of Employment and Economy in the beginning of year 2014.

The evaluation was carried out during spring 2014.

The objective of the evaluation was to clarify the know-how and development activity on the Arctic oil and chemical incident prevention field under the Finnish research, industrial and authority sectors. During the evaluation Neste Jacobs interviewed about 80 stakeholders, which represent the interest groups connected to the subject, such as international oil companies, the Ministries of Employment and Economy, Environment and Transport and Communications, The Finnish Border Guard, rescue departments and oil protection societies.

The result of the evaluation carried out by Neste Jacobs is that there is both a clear demand and a need for a Protection Centre where oil sorts transported in the arctic region can be tested in real ice conditions. To be able to do this, for example a full scale sink facility needs to be built. Neste Jacobs has also evaluated the alternative locations for the Centre. These are for example Kemi, Oulu, Kokkola and Kalajoki. The climate conditions favor the northern cities clearly. Preliminary cost estimate for the Protection Centre is about 22 million Euros.

The evaluation moves on by defining the conditions of the potential locations for the Protection Centre. Also Neste Jacobs' Consulting Team is heavily involved in this work financed by the Ministries of Transport and Communications, Employment and Economy and Environment.

"The evaluation carried out was a really interesting task for us and we are glad that the Ministry of Employment and Economy is very satisfied with our performance", says Jarmo Suominen, Managing Director of Neste Jacobs. "We are also heavily involved in the further proceeding after the evaluation by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, which strengthens our strategy to be the preferred solution provider for the public sector as well."

"We are in every respect very satisfied with Neste Jacobs' performance when carrying out the evaluation. We got a lot of beneficial and above all new information, which is very important for us when evaluating the further proceeding regarding the Protection Centre", says Janne Peltola, Senior Adviser of Ministry of Employment and Economy. "In our inquiry, we were looking for the best supplier from the overall cost competitiveness point of view, but additionally Neste Jacobs' professionalism and high quality competence rose heavily already in the beginning of the evaluation."