"Statoil delivered record financial results, " says Helge Lund, Statoil's president and CEO today. Statoil's fourth quarter 2011 net operating income was NOK 60.7 billion, a 42% increase compared to NOK 42.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010. In 2011, net operating income was NOK 211.8 billion compared to NOK 137.3 billion in 2010. During 2011 Statoil completed 41 exploration wells, 22 of which were discoveries.

"We delivered strong exploration results in 2011, adding more than 1 billion barrels to Statoil's resource base. Making high impact discoveries in the mature North Sea as well as in the Barents Sea reaffirms the potential of the Norwegian continental shelf," says Lund.

"We have in recent years consistently strengthened our resource base, bringing us to a new level. Our current resource base supports a continued strong reserve replacement going forward," says Lund.

Equity production was 1,975 mboe per day in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared to 1,945 mboe per day in the fourth quarter of 2010. Total equity production was 1,850 mboe per day in 2011, compared to 1,888 mboe per day in 2010.

The board of directors is proposing a dividend of NOK 6.50 per share for 2011. Compared to 2010, when the dividend was NOK 6.25, this is an increase in line with our dividend policy.

Outlook and strategy for Statoil for 2012 is:
Organic capital expenditures for 2012 (i.e. excluding acquisitions and capital leases), are estimated to be around USD 17 billion including expenditures relating to our new assets from the recent Brigham acquisition.The Company will continue to mature its large portfolio of exploration assets and expects to complete around 40 wells with a total exploration activity level in 2012 similar to the 2011 level at around USD 3 billion, excluding signature bonuses.

Statoil has an ambition to continue to be in the top quartile, of its peer group, for unit of production cost.Equity production for 2012 is estimated to grow by around 3% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) based on the actual 2010 equity production.

Deferral of gas production to create value, gas off-take, timing of new capacity coming on stream and operational regularity represent the most significant risks related to the production guidance.For the period beyond 2012, Statoil has an ambition to reach an equity production above 2.5 mmboe in 2020.
 

Tags: Statoil