Category: Norway

Norway’s Statoil posted a $1.9 billion net profit in the second quarter, more than double that of a year ago. Bloomberg News OSLO—Norwegian oil major Statoil AS A said Friday its second-quarter net profit more than doubled as higher prices offset a 9% production drop on the year, adding it was limiting its gas output on low prices in Europe. Second-quarter net profit was 11.9 billion Norwegian kroner ($1.92 billion), compared with 4.3 billion kroner a year earlier and a SME Direct consensus forecast of 11.47 billion kroner. This figure differs from net profit as reported by U.S. oil companies because it includes changes in the value of inventories. "Our quarterly earnings were impacted by divestments, seasonal effects and lower gas prices," said Chief Executive Helge Lund. "We have deferred gas production to enhance value, but remain on track for delivering on our production guiding for 2014." The company […]

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The IMF has called on Norway to cut back on spending its oil income, saying the economy needs no further stimulus and the government should focus on fostering private sector growth instead as it begins the long transition to life after oil. The budget has provided the economy with repeated stimulus even though it is running near capacity. The government needs to cut back, both to save the oil income and maintain a more neutral fiscal stance, the fund said. “The upward trend in government consumption and investment, together with the increasing labor demand from the oil and gas sector … has crowded out and increased labor cost pressure in other exposed industries,” the IMF said after ending its annual consultation with Norway. Norway has saved up its oil money in a fund now worth $870 billion, or $170,000 per man, woman and child, and will spend less than […]

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Marathon Oil Corp . is selling its Norwegian business for more than $2 billion in cash to Det Norske Oljeselskap AS A as part of a drive by the Houston-based energy company to sell its North Sea oil-and-gas operations to focus on the U.S. "The sale of our Norway assets advances one of our key 2014 priorities and further demonstrates our commitment to rigorous portfolio management to simplify and concentrate our business," Marathon Chief Executive Lee M. Tillman said Monday. In December the company said it would increase in capital spending to boost output while also lifting shareholder returns with a $2.5 billion buyback program. Marathon said the Norwegian deal was worth $2.7 billion but that after adjustments for debt, net working capital and interest the net proceeds would be $2.1 billion. Since 2011 Marathon Oil has sold $6.2 billion worth of assets in a bid to improve growth […]

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Norwegian energy company Statoil said Thursday the Greenpeace activists who boarded a drill ship headed for arctic waters are in custody. More than a dozen demonstrators boarded a rig contracted by Statoil from Transocean that was bound for work in the northern reaches of the Barents Sea. Around half of them surrendered their campaign voluntarily this week and Statoil said the seven activists who remained behind are in the custody of Norwegian police. "Statoil is very pleased that the illegal action on the rig now has ended without anyone being injured," the company said in a statement . The Norwegian company said the rig, Transocean Spitsbergen, is now on its way to the Hoop reserve area in the Barents Sea. Its permit for drilling, however, depends on the Norwegian government’s decision on a Greenpeace complaint. The action from Greenpeace included a campaign against Russian energy company […]

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Activists from environmental group Greenpeace boarded a Statoil ASA (STL) rig en route to drill Norway’s northernmost exploration well in the Barents Sea , saying it’s too close to the polar ice cap and a key nature reserve. The Transocean Spitsbergen rig won’t resume its voyage to the Apollo prospect in the Hoop area or start drilling until about 10 activists have left the vessel, which is owned by Transocean Ltd. (RIG) , Statoil spokesman Oerjan Heradstveit said. “The action has so far been peaceful, but it’s still an irresponsible and illegal action,” Heradstveit said by mobile phone. “It’s too early to say” if the drilling that’s scheduled for the end of the month will be delayed, he said. Statoil, Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and other explorers are meeting obstacles from environmental groups, politicians and courts as they seek to tap oil and gas resources in the Arctic […]

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STAVANGER, Norway, May 13 (UPI) –Oil and natural gas liquids production from Norway, one of Europe’s top producers, was down about 1.5 percent, government data published Tuesday show. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said about 1.92 million barrels of oil and natural gas liquids were produced in April, about 30,000 bpd, or roughly 1.5 percent, less than the previous month. Norway is the largest oil producer and the third-largest natural gas producer in Europe. Most of its oil went to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands last year. It supplied members of the European Union with about 21 percent of their gas needs last year, just behind Russia. NPD said final production figures for March show an average daily production rate of about 1.5 million barrels of oil and 367 billion cubic feet of saleable natural gas production. Production was down in part because of technical issues at the Skuld […]

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Oil and gas companies can expect little help from Norway on tackling surging costs as the government of western Europe ’s biggest crude producer tones down plans for measures that producers hope will boost earnings. “I don’t really expect us to present a package of measures,” Petroleum and Energy Minister Tord Lien said in a May 7 interview in Oslo. Cost increases challenging offshore projects are “partly due to the fact that we’re not smart enough in the way we work. The responsibility for that lies first and foremost with the operators and suppliers.” Lien, a member of junior coalition partner the Progress Party, said in December his administration could by the end of the year present measures, including tax incentives, aimed at cutting costs that have doubled during the past 10 years. Expenses have jumped amid increasing complexity, higher raw-materials costs and rising demand. Coupled with stagnating energy […]

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An ice chunk that can swell to the size of Russia will shape Norway ’s future oil income. The Arctic ice cap floats above vast deposits of oil and gas while sustaining along its perimeter one of the most biologically productive ecosystems on earth, supporting polar bears , walruses, commercially important fisheries and huge populations of migratory birds. The Norwegian government, seeking to sustain oil revenues that have fueled the country’s prosperity, has floated plans to let drillers push closer than ever to the ice cap — only to run into the strongest opposition yet. The uproar frames a larger and increasingly contentious fight over whether the Arctic Ocean’s mostly untouched oil and gas reserves can be safely or economically exploited. Key political allies of Norway’s Conservative Party-led government that help keep it in power are pushing to cut plans to offer 54 blocks in the Arctic Barents Sea […]

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Oeystein Olsen, Norway’s central bank governor, rejected industry warnings that oil at about $100 a barrel is too cheap to support growth in western Europe ’s biggest crude exporter. “We have been quite lucky and we have benefited from relatively high oil prices, $100 per barrel or just above,” Olsen said in a Feb. 28 interview after a press conference in Oslo. “Given other developments all over the world, we should be relatively content if this level remains.” Statoil ASA (STL) , Norway’s biggest crude producer, said last month it would cut planned investments by 8 percent over the next three years as the stagnant price of oil weighs on cash flow . The decision triggered a warning from the government, which owns 67 percent of Statoil, and has said that planned projects must go ahead and that it may seek to attract more competitors. While […]

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Norwegian oil company Statoil AS A has postponed its 2020 production target of 2.5 million barrels a day by three to four years and is reducing its planned capital expenditure, as the company looks to chase margins over big production numbers. Statoil said it would lower its planned capital expenditure to an average of $20 billion a year through 2016, a reduction of 8%, to free up cash. Statoil Chief Executive Helge Lund said in an interview in London that the company will cut costs $1.3 billion a year starting in 2016 in a bid to counter escalating oil sector costs. "We have been working actively with costs for several years and have seen this as a major development, but now we are turning it up a couple notches," Mr. Lund said. "These are still Statoil’s highest investments ever, so this isn’t a defensive plan." The state-controlled company is […]

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Norwegian oil company Statoil said Friday it had a successful 2013 in terms of oil and gas reserves generated from its exploration activity. Statoil said Friday it "delivered the best oil and gas exploration results in the industry" last year in terms of conventional oil and gas discoveries. Last year, the company said its Bay du Nord discovery off the eastern coast of Canada was one of the largest for 2013 with at least 300 million barrels of recoverable oil. In its report Friday, it said the Canadian discovery contributed to the addition of 1.25 billion barrels of oil equivalent from exploration activity in 2013. "Our operational performance was good," Helge Lund , Statoil’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement Friday. The company said it plans to spend $3.5 billion on exploration activity in 2014, though its overall planned investment […]

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Norway , which has watched its crude output fall every year since 2000, wants to attract large producers to compete with Statoil ASA (STL) as the state-controlled company cancels and delays key projects. Western Europe’s largest oil and gas producer now needs a broader group of big companies with the technological know-how and financial strength to help develop resources, Petroleum and Energy Minister Tord Lien said. “We need more large players,” Lien, who took power in October, said yesterday in an interview in Oslo. Statoil last year delayed an investment decision on its Johan Castberg oil project in the Arctic Barents Sea, citing rising costs and a tax increase by the previous government. It then pushed back by a year the start of its Johan Sverdrup field, delaying what may be the biggest Norwegian oil discovery since 1974. The company also scrapped plans for a pipeline to the Kristin […]

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