Norway’s Statoil reports over threefold rise in Q4 profits on higher oil prices, output

Statoil reports over threefold rise in Q4 profits

OSLO — Norwegian oil company Statoil ASA said Thursday that fourth quarter profits more than tripled, as a rise in oil prices and increased production offset slumping gas prices.

Net profit for the October through December period surged to 7.1 billion kroner ($1.2 billion) from 2 billion kroner in 2008, the state-controlled oil concern said. Revenue, meanwhile, slumped to 125 billion kroner from 150 billion kroner a year earlier.

Statoil shares opened up 2.8 percent, at 130.50 kroner ($22.20), on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

The Stavanger-based group said a 17 percent jump in oil prices and a 4 percent increase in oil and natural gas output offset a drop of about 50 percent in both natural gas prices and refining margins. The company also said a lower tax rate and financial gains from cost-cutting measures helped buoy profits.

Statoil CEO Helge Lund said Statoil delivered “solid economic and operational results in a demanding market,” with production “growing according to plan.”

Still, he warned that “uncertainty in the global markets” for oil and natural gas markets could affect Statoil in 2010 despite signs of recovery in the wake of the financial crisis.

Trond Omdal, an analyst at Arctic Securities, said the result was “more or less in line with estimates,” with higher-than-expected year-end dividend payouts driving the positive market response. However, the production outlook disappointed, “indicating a slight decline in production” in 2010, he said.

Statoil said its oil and gas production for the quarter rose slightly, averaging 2.06 million barrels of oil equivalents per day, compared with 2.02 million barrels of oil equivalents a year earlier. Oil equivalents measure the energy content, rather than volume, of oil and gas.

Statoil is the main oil producer on the Norwegian continental shelf, and has about 30,000 employees in more than 40 countries.

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