London - Statoil ASA, Norway’s biggest energy company, agreed to sell assets, including stakes in the Gudrun and Gullfaks fields, to Austria’s OMV AG for $2.65-billion as it frees up cash for new projects.
The company will reduce its stake in the two Norwegian fields to 51 percent from more than 70 percent, the Stavanger- based company said on Monday. Statoil will also sell all its holdings in the Schiehallion and Rosebank fields, West of Shetlands in the UK.
“Through this transaction, Statoil captures value created through asset development and unlocks capital for investment in high return projects,” said Helge Lund, Statoil’s president and chief executive officer. “This includes our recent discoveries on the Norwegian continental shelf.”
Statoil said it expects a gain from the transaction of $1.3-billion to $1.5-billion. The sale will allow the company to redeploy about $7-billion of capital expenditure, it said.
Statoil, in which the Norwegian government owns a 67 percent stake, is seeking to increase production by an average three percent a year to 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent a day by 2020. It’s expanding abroad and into unconventional resources such as shale oil and gas to help meet its target. - Bloomberg