Statoil swaps assets with five others

June 26, 1997 Statoil has reached agreement with five oil companies on purchase, sale and swap transactions covering interests in 21 licences on the Norwegian and British continental shelves. The overall value of the deals was between 5 billion crowns ($ 689.2 mm) and 6 bn crowns ($ 827.1 mm), Statoil said. Total resources involved in the transactions are 340 mm barrels of oil and 36.5 bn cm of natural gas.
Statoil said it was swapping both Norwegian and British assets with British Petroleum and Chevron. It also was exchanging interests in Norwegian exploration licences with Norsk Hydro, Elf and Total. Statoil said it was withdrawing from 11 licences in all, but would remain in 9 of them as manager for the state's direct financial interest."These transactions help to meet central Statoil goals of strengthening its position in selected core areas of the Norwegian and British continental shelves, and of improving its long-term production profile," Statoil said. It said the deals would result in its oil reserve base -- measured as a sum of proven and probable reserves -- declining slightly, but its gas resources would be "substantially" increased by more than 20 bn cubic metres.
In terms of current output, Statoil will be trading a production of 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and would receive a daily production of close to 20,000 boe.