Category: Norway

Norwegian energy company Statoil starts process of laying a gas pipeline across the Arctic Circle to onshore processing terminal. Image courtesy: Statoil STAVANGER, Norway, March 27 (UPI) — Norwegian energy company Statoil said Friday it started the pioneering project of laying gas pipeline across the arctic waters of the Norwegian Sea. The company started the process of laying the 300-mile long Polarled pipeline from the Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea across the Arctic Circle to a gas processing plant in the northwest of the country. Statoil said the project marks a regional milestone on several fronts . It’s the first large-diameter pipeline of its kind to be placed in waters of up to 4,150 feet deep and is the first pipeline to take gas across the Arctic Circle. "Polarled will have great and strategic impact on the future development of the region," Jan Heiberg, acting director of […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

(Bloomberg) — Norway has many sources to tap as policy makers seek to wean the nation off its oil reliance. Besides its $850 billion sovereign wealth fund, Norway’s State Educational Loan Fund, which provides loans to students domestically and abroad and some international students in Norway, is prepared to serve as a buffer amid deepening economic strains, according to Chief Executive Officer Marianne Andreassen. “With a damping of the oil sector engine and the huge investments there, many who worked in those areas will need to work elsewhere,” Andreassen said in an interview. Western Europe’s biggest crude producer is facing what central bank Governor Oeystein Olsen calls a “period of restructuring” amid plunging oil prices. A 53 percent drop in Brent since a June high is endangering an economy that relies on oil and gas for more than one-fifth of its output. Oil and gas companies operating in Norway […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

By Kjetil Malkenes Hovland OSLO–Norway’s oil and gas companies expect spending to drop 12% this year after reaching an all-time high in 2014, an official survey showed Thursday, as plunging oil prices compound an expected slowdown after years of double-digit growth. In 2015, oil companies operating in Norway, the world’s 10th-largest oil exporter, expect to invest 189.05 billion Norwegian kroner ($24.34 billion) in the industry, according to Statistics Norway’s first-quarter survey. Oil companies said they planned to spend less than previously expected on exploration and the operation of existing fields, likely due to the plunge in oil prices since last June, the statistics agency said. The survey was roughly in line with expectations. Spending last year reached at an all-time high at 214.31 billion kroner, but was up only 1% from the previous year, compared with double-digit percentage growth in each of the preceding three years. Industry association Norwegian […]

Click here to view full article at www.wsj.com

Erna Solberg, Norway’s Prime Minister. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg risks being left in the lurch by her coalition partners as she seeks to steer western Europe’s biggest oil producer through a slump in crude prices. The 54-year-old called a meeting with her support parties for Tuesday to discuss a mounting discord in her coalition and “the challenges that Norway faces.” Tensions inside the coalition are growing as Finance Minister Siv Jensen’s Progress Party is increasingly at odds with the government’s two support parties over everything from economic and tax policies, to welfare spending and immigration. Solberg’s dilemma is that she needs “support from two centrist parties in parliament that basically disagree with the government on a lot of issues,” said Johannes Bergh, a researcher at the Institute for Social Research in Oslo. “That’s caused a lot of friction.” Support for the minority government, […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Norway’s economic model has long been much-admired. The Scandinavian country is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, thanks to 40 years of North Sea oil production. The global financial crisis barely registered amid decades of almost nonstop growth. More On this topic IN Europe But after a plunge in oil prices, policy makers and analysts in Oslo are now cautioning that this gilded era is coming to an end . “We cannot expect to grow continuously as we have over the past 10-15 years,” Øystein Olsen, Norway’s central bank governor, told the Financial Times. “We are going to be more in the same boat as our neighbouring countries.” Siv Jensen, Norwegian finance minister, added: “The past couple of decades are not to be continued.” Western Europe’s biggest oil producer is still a long way from crisis, the same policy makers note. The economy grew 3 per cent […]

Click here to view full article at www.ft.com

“Our financial position is robust, and we maintain a stable dividend,” Eldar Saetre, Statoil ASA’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. Photographer: Krister Soerboe/Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — Statoil ASA deepened cost cuts and halted dividend growth as Norway’s biggest energy company struggles to withstand a plunge in oil prices. The company will raise spending cuts by 30 percent to $1.7 billion from 2016 and lower capital expenditure to $18 billion this year from earlier targeting $20 billion, the Stavanger-based company said. Statoil reported fourth-quarter net operating income of 9 billion kroner ($1.2 billion), down from 43.9 billion kroner a year earlier. That missed an estimate of 26.3 billion kroner in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Statoil followed competitors including Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp. in cutting billions of dollars in investments. They are seeking to protect profits after oil prices slumped by more than 50 percent in […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Norway sees record interest from energy companies eying its offshore reserves, but warns against unwarranted production expectations. (UPI/Shutterstock/James Jones Jr.) OSLO, Norway, Jan. 21 (UPI) — German energy company Wintershall said Wednesday there were emerging opportunities offshore Norway, where it’s one of the largest stakeholders. Wintershall said it won eight exploration licenses, serving as the operator at three, during the latest auction held by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. With 50 licenses already in its books, the German oil and gas company is among the largest stakeholders in Norway. "As one of the fastest growing oil and gas companies in Norway, we are focused on turning our exploration success into developments and production," regional managing director Bernd Schrimpf said in a statement. "It is critical that we continue to replenish our license portfolio so that we can continue to operate in this way." The Norwegian government handed […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

Norwegian energy company Statoil said there’s still a long life left in North Sea field. (UPI/Shutterstock/James Jones Jr.) STAVANGER, Norway, Jan. 9 (UPI) — Producing 700 million barrels of oil equivalent since 1997, Norwegian energy company Statoil said Friday it was extending the life of a North Sea field to 2030. Statoil said it was confident life for the Norne field development in the North Sea could be extended beyond the initial closure date in 2014. The field’s operational vice president, Kristin Westvik, said 17 years of systematic maintenance left infrastructure there in good shape. "In light of this we are now considering extending Norne’s life to 2030," she said in a statement. Statoil last year said it was forced to slash costs by more than $1 billion because of the low price for crude oil. Brent, the global benchmark derived from North Sea oils, is selling for around […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

Norwegian energy company Statoil starts work at North Sea platform that will eventually be run by remote. Photo courtesy of Statoil STAVANGER, Norway, Jan. 5 (UPI) — Norwegian energy company Statoil said it started operations at a North Sea platform that will eventually be run by remote control from the shore. The company brought the Valemon natural gas and condensate field into production Saturday. It’s the second platform to be put into production by the company in the last nine months. "Valemon is one of several new projects on the Norwegian continental shelf that will help add value, activity and innovation, demonstrating well the long-term perspective that characterizes Statoil’s activity on the Norwegian continental shelf," Arne Sigve Nylund, executive vice president for development and production in Norway, said in a statement. The North Sea platform has accommodations for as many as 40 workers. Long-term, the facility will be unmanned […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com