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 "I couldn't believe that these big buildings could be made,"
said passenger Kari Somme, 86, after seeing Statoil's Troll A
platform - the heaviest structure ever moved by mankind -
towering 200 meters (650 feet) above the surface of the sea.
"It's just wonderful, just wonderful. I was so excited because I
didn't know much about it. So when I came here and we went from
rig to rig, or platform to platform, I was amazed," she said.
The North Sea is usually known for its cold and storms.
The group of 120 tourists, all Norwegians except for a German
and a Swedish couple, paid between 6,000 crowns and 30,000
crowns ($700-$3,500) for four days on board the high tech
offshore vessel Edda Fides.
The trip was organized by Edda Accommodation, a firm that
provides housing for oil workers working offshore. It was
looking for new ways to drum up business: oil firms are cutting
costs to cope with a 60-percent drop in the price of oil since
mid-2014.
"There was little activity, so we used our creativity to come up
with ideas. We organized this trip in six weeks," Bjoern Erik
Julseth, the hotel manager on board, told Reuters by phone.
The group toured oil installations at the Troll, Balder or
Ringhorn fields. Right after this ended, a second tour departed
for a trip further north to the fields of the Norwegian Sea.
Many were curious to see Norway's oil production first hand. Oil
brought wealth to a once-poor country of 4.2 million within a
generation, and is still its top industry. But the bulk of the
work is unseen as it takes place offshore.
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 "Every Norwegian knows that the oil has brought us wealth and
welfare that can't be compared to nothing or to no one," said
passenger Arnt Even Boe, a journalist.
The tourists were not allowed to board the rigs for security
reasons, but the offshore workers seemed thrilled to get
visitors.
"Some of them fired flares or used water canons to welcome us
... We even had a rescue helicopter, with one worker dangling
above us," said Julseth, adding that the company would now
evaluate whether to do another cruise tour again.
Passenger Nils Olav Nergaard brought his drone on the trip and
said it had been "a real adventure".
"To be a part of a high-tech offshore vessel, almost as a crew,
and get the experience to go to the oil platforms and see them
for real, that was very amazing," Nergaard said.
(Writing by Gwladys Fouche; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
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