(Rewrites throughout, updates share price.)
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Norwegian oil giant Statoil ASA (STL.OS) will spend $32 billion
on exploration and production over the next two years as it aims to
ramp up production to above 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalents
a day over the next 10 years.
In addition to continued focus on production from operations on
the Norwegian Continental Shelf, Statoil said the increased output
will come through strengthened positions in the Gulf of Mexico,
Brazil, Angola, the Caspian region and Arctic Sea, while also
stepping up production of shale gas and liquids.
"The Norwegian Continental Shelf remains a very attractive and
globally competitive province for future oil and gas activities,"
Statoil Chief Executive Helge Lund said in a statement accompanying
the company's capital markets day in New York.
Like many oil companies, Statoil has benefitted from the rising
price of crude oil which has enabled maturing fields to remain
profitable despite dwindling reserves. Statoil has also been able
to leverage its experience and expertise of working in some of the
world's most inhospitable places, tapping hard-to-reach fields in
very deep water and extreme temperatures of the Arctic and Barents
Sea.
Production from Statoil's core Norwegian Continental Shelf
operations is expected to be more than 1.4 million BOE a day in
2020, while its international portfolio is expected to produce more
than 1.1 million BOE a day, Statoil said. Investment for 2011 will
be $16 billion and it expects the investments in 2012 to be at the
same level.
"Towards 2020 our ambition is to establish material positions in
three to five offshore business clusters outside the NCS and step
up our shale gas and liquids production," Lund said.
An Oslo-based analyst said the 2020 output target was slightly
above expectations. "But there are a number of risks...We have to
find out on what assumptions they base this on," the analyst
said.
As well as conventional oil and gas operations, Statoil is
developing the Eagle Ford shale field in southwestern Texas through
a joint venture with Canada's Talisman Energy Inc. (TLM) and the
Marcellus shale region together with Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK),
which includes northern West Virginia across Pennsylvania and parts
of New York.
Statoil said the positive outlook for natural gas will mean an
increased focus on Marcellus and Eagle Ford, which together are
expected to deliver more than bewteen 3 billion and 3.5 billion
barrels of oil equivalent.
At 1152 GMT shares traded 0.2% higher at NOK131.60, while its
European peers traded lower.
Company Web site: http://www.statoil.com
-By Charles Duxbury, Ian Edmondson and Katarina Gustafsson, Dow
Jones Newswires; +46-8-5451-3092; charles.duxbury@dowjones.com