Norwegian oil firm Statoil repeated its production forecast for 2012 today after first-quarter oil and gas output rose more than expected and the company reported a record quarterly profit.
Adjusted operating profit rose to 59.2 billion crowns (€7.8 billion) - its highest quarterly profit - compared with 47.2 billion crowns a year ago.
Oil and gas entitlement output in the first quarter rose to 1.970 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. Production was expected to rise to 1.881 million boed this quarter, compared with 1.765 million boed last year.
Start-up production at fields in Brazil and Angola, among others, helped compensate for declining output from Statoil's mature fields offshore Norway.
"We continued to start up new fields and ramp up production, delivering record international production," said chief executive Helge Lund.
"On the Norwegian continental shelf, we increased gas production in line with our strategy of gas optimisation," he added.
The firm kept its production targets for 2012, which imply an equity output of some 2 million boed, up around 3 per cent compared to equity production in 2010.
Statoil has frequently set production targets that were revised downwards months later.
It gives its outlook in terms of equity production, a term used by the firm to reflect volume it would have received if its oil and gas contracts gave the rights to a share of production equivalent to its share of expenditure.
Statoil's production growth is expected to come from new projects in the period from 2014 to 2016, resulting in a growth rate of 2 to 3 per cent for the period from 2012 to 2016.
Reuters
