page_title: Norske Skog Saugbrugs
section_title: Kosmos and Norske Skog
hierarchical_section_title: Norske Skog Saugbrugs / History / Kosmos and Norske Skog
caption_attribution_description: English: Saugbruksforeningen cellulose- og papirfabrikk ved elva Tista i Halden. English: Saugbruksforeningen pulp and paper factory by the Tista river, Halden (Norway)
context_page_description: Norske Skog Saugbrugs AS is a pulp mill and paper mill located in Halden, Norway, which produces supercalender magazine paper. Located in the river Tista in Tistedalen, the mill produces 550,000 tonnes per year in three paper machines. Pulp is produced both from virgin fibers at an on-site thermomechanical pulp mill. Part of Norske Skog, it is the sole remaining magazine mill in Norway.
  Established as Saugbrugsforeningen in 1859, the company consolidated the sawmill operations along Tista, demolishing them and building a new sawmill. Pulp production was established in 1889. A major revamp from 1907 to 1910 saw the construction of Tistedalsfossen Power Station and pulp production based on the sulfite process. The company was involved in a wide range of wood processing industries, buying several smaller mills in the area.
  The first two paper machines opened in 1914 and 1915. Viscose production was introduced along with PM3 in 1929. The mill underwent a gradual modernization through the 1950s, resulting in the opening of PM4 in 1963 and PM5 in 1968. From the mid 1970s through the early 1990s the mill cut most of its pollutants which had severely polluted Iddefjord and Tista.
context_section_description: The 1970s and 1980s saw a modernization of the forestry. The number of lumberjacks in the mill's 360 square kilometers (140 sq mi) of forest had dropped to fifty and the work largely carried out using harvesters. The last log driving took place in 1982—better roads and cumbersome operations due to the number of locks made trucks more profitable. Increased production led to need for more lumber, but import from Sweden was reduced with the increased Swedish industry. Saugbrugsforeningen was therefore forced to import from further afield, including Denmark, Poland, Germany and for periods also from Canada, Russia and the Baltic.
  The company approved a five-year investment plan in 1980, costing NOK 500 million. Both PM4 and PM5 were to be modernized and received computer-based controlling systems. Low prices caused the plans to be postponed after PM5 was completed in 1981. The conglomerate Kosmos bought Saugbrugsforeningen in 1983, paying about NOK 100 million for the company.  Both prior and afterwards there was discussion of Saugbrugsforeningen joining a major paper production group. PM4 was upgraded in 1986 and 1987, costing NOK 296 million.
  Kosmos considered selling Saugbrugsforeningen in 1985, and annually contacted various potential purchasers. The two major players were Orkla–Borregaard and Norske Skog. The former operated the Borregaard mill in the neighboring town of Sarpsborg. Norske Skog had bought a substantial portion of what became Norske Skog Follum from Orkla–Borregaard in 1985, under the gentleman's agreement that they would avoid entering the Østfold market. Borregaard owned major forest areas close to Saugbrugsforeningen's and the latter aimed to achieve synergies both in regard to logistics and operation of the forest estates.
  Kosmos collapsed in 1988 and was taken over by I. M. Skaugen. They aimed at divesting the diversified portfolio in the company in the aim of restructuring Kosmos as a pure shipping company, and placed Saugbrugsforeningen and other assets up for sale. Noegotiations for a sale to Norske Skog commenced on 12 January 1989. The company was valuated at NOK 1.8 billion, although a purchaser also had to carry out the plans for a new paper machine, estimated to cost NOK 3 billion. An important strategic consideration for Norske Skog was that it did not have any production of magazine paper, something the inclusion of Saugbrugsforeningen's production line would allow for. The take-over was approved by the purchaser on 9 November 1989 and effectuated on 1 December. The decision included approval of a new paper machine. Saugbrugsforeningen changed its name to Norske Skog Saugbrugs. Norske Skog paid NOK 460 million in cash and took over NOK 980 million in debt. The remaining NOK 360 million was financed through issuing new shares. Kosmos thus received NOK 820 million from their NOK 100 million investment six years earlier.
  Norske Skog's board decided in December 1990 to close the sulfite pulp mill and build a new magazine paper machine, PM6. The decision to terminate cellulose production was both caused by the environmental impact as well as by a steady diminishing demand for chemical pulp. The recession following the dissolution of the Soviet Union meant that exports to Eastern Europe were decimated. Meanwhile, new production technologies for paper had less demand for cellulose. The closing resulted in a loss of 210 jobs, of which 25 were transferred to PM6 and 50 were retired early. Construction of the new mill took place at Skakkestad, to the northeast of the main facility. Originally PM6 was proposed to produce light weight coated paper, but after Stora bought the technological partner Feldmühle, PM6 had to revert to supercalender.
  The rinser, chipping module and the thermomechanical pulp mill opened in January 1992. Installation of the paper machine started in July; at the most 1,150 people worked on the project as a whole. Built by Valmet, PM6 started operating on 7 February 1993. By 1995 PM6 set a world record of 1,626 meters (5,335 ft) per minute and the mill as a whole produced 523,000 
caption: The contemporary facility
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