Statoil boosts profits amid record output and high prices

Statoil ASA, (formerly Den norske stats oljeselskap), Norway's oil and gas exploration, production, transport, refining, and marketing giant, delivered fourth quarter operating profits of 12.7bn nkr (€1.442bn) compared to 11.3 bn nkr (€1.282bn) a year earlier, amid record oil and gas output and high prices.

Sales in the fourth quarter came in at 64.960bn nkr (€7.374bn) against the previous year's 64.612 nkr (€7.336bn), exceeding analyst's expectations.

Net income for the period was 4.3bn nkr (€0.488bn)compared to 4.5bn nkr (€ 0.51bn) year earlier and with forecasts of 4.412bn nkr (€0.50bn).

Acting chief executive Inge Hansen said: "We are continuing to deliver strong results, including new production records for both oil and gas in the fourth quarter."

The group says it identified improvement measures necessary for reaching its 2004 target of 12% for normalised return on capital employed (ROCE).

These measures are expected to contribute annual efficiency improvements from 2004 totalling 2.8 bn nkr (€0.31bn) .

Average daily production in the fourth quarter came in at 1.214 million barrels of oil equivalent, compared to 1.17 million a year earlier.

In 2003, Statoil's CEO, chairman and another top executive were forced to resign, due to a bribery scandal involving an Iranian oil contract.

The Norwegian government owns almost 81% of Statoil.