- StatoilHydro
Infobox_Company | company_name = StatoilHydro ASA
company_type = Public (ose|STL, nyse|STO)
company_
company_slogan =
foundation =October 1 ,2007
location =Stavanger ,Norway
key_people =Helge Lund (CEO),Svein Rennemo (Chairman of the board)
num_employees = 29,500 (2007)
industry = Oil and gas
products = Oil,natural gas ,petrochemicals
revenue = NOK 522.8 billion (2007)cite web |url=http://www.statoilhydro.com/en/InvestorCentre/AnnualReport/2007/Downloads/SH%2020F%202007.pdf |title=Annual Report 2007 |publisher=StatoilHydro |accessdate=2008-05-28]
operating_income = profit NOK 137.2 billion (2007)
net_income = profit NOK 44.6 billion (2007)
homepage = [http://www.statoilhydro.com www.statoilhydro.com]
intl = yesStatoilHydro ASA (ose|STL, nyse|STO) is a Norwegian energy company, formed by the 2007 merger of
Statoil with the oil and gas division ofNorsk Hydro . [cite web |url=http://www.offshore247.com/news/article.asp?Id=7695 |author=Offshore247 |title=StatoilHydro signature unveiled |date=2007-05-10 |accessdate=2007-06-20] StatoilHydro is the biggest offshore oil and gas company in the worldcite web |url=http://www.ocean-resources.com/news/ournews.asp?NewsID=5709 Norwegian Parliament |author=Ocean Resources |title=Okays Statoil-Hydro Merger |date=2007-06-11 |accessdate=2007-06-20] and the largest company by revenue in theNordic Region .cite web |url=http://e24.no/naeringsliv/article1574917.ece |title=Blant verdens 50 største |author=E24 |date=2006-12-19 |accessdate=2007-10-18] The company is a fully-integratedpetroleum company with production operations in thirteen countries and retail operations in eight.Operations
Upstream
StatoilHydro is the largest operator on the Norwegian continental shelf, with 60% of the total production. The field operated are Glitne, Gullfaks, Heidrun, Huldra, Kristin, Kvitebjørn, Mikkel, Norne, Ormen Lange, Sleipner, Snorre,
Snøhvit , Statfjord, Sygna, Tordis, Troll, Veslefrikk, Vigdis, Visund, Volve and Åsgard. The company also has processing plants atKolsnes ,Kårstø ,Mongstad ,Tjeldbergodden and Melkøya.In addition to the Norwegian continental shelf, StatoilHydro operates oil and gas fields in
Algeria ,Angola ,Azerbaijan ,Brazil ,Canada ,China ,Iran ,Libya ,Nigeria ,Russia ,United States andVenezuela . StatoilHydro has offices that are looking for possible ventures in the countries ofEgypt ,Mexico ,Qatar andUnited Arab Emirates . The company has processing plants inBelgium ,Denmark ,France andGermany . In 2006, Statoil was approved to become the world's largest project to implementcarbon sequestration as a means to mitigatecarbon emissions to the atmosphere.Midstream
StatoilHydro is involved in a number of pipelines, including
Zeepipe ,Statpipe ,Europipe I andEuropipe II , andFranpipe from the Norwegian continental shelf toWestern Europe in addition to theBaku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline inCentral Asia . The pipelines from Norway are organized throughGassled .The company has trading offices for
crude oil ,refined petroleum products andnatural gas liquids inLondon , Stamford andSingapore .Downstream
The company operates three brands of
fuel station s: Statoil, Hydro and 1-2-3. StatoilHydro operates petrol station services inDenmark ,Estonia , IrelandLatvia ,Lithuania , Norway,Poland ,Russia andSweden . Some fully automated stations are branded 1-2-3. In Sweden the company also operates Hydro stations. In total StatoilHydro has about 2,000 fuel stations. In mid-2008, Statoil service stations in theRepublic of Ireland began to rebrand as Topaz, following the acquisition of the company in 2006 by Irish oil firm Topaz Energy Group.History
The heritage of StatoilHydro derives from the three major Norwegian petroleum companies
Statoil ,Norsk Hydro andSaga Petroleum (the latter two merged in 1999).tatoil
Den Norske Stats Oljeselskap A/S was founded as a private limited company owned by the
Government of Norway onJuly 14 ,1972 by a unanimous act passed by the Norwegian parliamentStortinget . The political motivation was Norwegian participation in the oil industry on the continental shelf and to build up Norwegian competency within the petroleum industry to establish the foundations of a domestic petroleum industry. Statoil was required to discuss important issues with the Minister of Industry, later Minister of Petroleum and Energy. Statoil was also required to submit an annual report to the parliament.In 1973 the company started work acquiring a presence in the petrochemical industry. This resulted in the development of processing plants in
Rafsnes and, in partnership withNorsk Hydro , theMongstad plant in 1980. In 1981 the company acquired, as the first Norwegian company, operator rights on theNorwegian continental shelf on theGullfaks field. 1987-88 saw the largest scandal in the companies history, theMongstad scandal that made the until then unassailable CEOArve Johnsen withdraw.In the 1980s Statoil decided to become a fully-integrated petroleum company and started building the Statoil fuel statio brand. The stations in Norway originated as
Norol stations while the stations inDenmark andSweden were purchased fromEsso in 1985, while the stations in Ireland were purchased fromBritish Petroleum in 1992 andConocoPhilips Jet in the mid 90s, then sold by Statoil to Topaz Oil in 2006. Statoil also built up a network of stations in part of Eastern Europe in the 1990s.The company was privatised and made a
public limited company (allmennaksjeselskap ) in 2001, becoming listed on the both theOslo Stock Exchange and theNew York Stock Exchange . At the same time it changed its name to Statoil ASA. The government still retained a majority ownership in the company. In 2007 Statoil bought a large area in the Athabasca oil sand field in Canada after purchasingNorth American Oil Sands Corporation for USD 2.2 billion.Hydro
In 1965 Hydro joined
Elf Aquitaine and six other French companies to formPetronord to perform search for oil and gas in theNorth Sea . Hydro soon became a large company in the North Sea petroleum industry, and also became operator of a number of fields, the first being Oseberg.Hydro acquired in the late 1980s the
Mobil service stations in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, changing their name to Hydro. In 1995 Hydro merged its stations in Norway and Denmark with theTexaco , creating thejoint venture HydroTexaco . The service station chain was sold in 2006 toReitangruppen . In 1999 Hydro acquired Norway's third largest petroleum companySaga Petroleum , who had major upstream operations primarily in Norway and theUnited Kingdom . The British operations were later sold.Merger
The merger proposal was announced in December 2006.cite web |url=http://www.hydro.com/cgi-bin/www.hydro.com/show_press_rel.cgi?file=/en/press_room/press_releases/archive/2006_12/2768/2768_en.html |author=
Norsk Hydro |title=Hydro's oil and gas activities to merge with Statoil |date=2006-12-18 |accessdate=2007-06-20] Under the rules of the EEA the merger was approved by theEuropean Union on May 3, 2007cite web |url=http://www.eubusiness.com/Energy/statoil-norsk.44/ |title=EU regulators approve Statoil, Norsk Hydro merger |author=EU Business |date=2007-05-03 |accessdate=2007-06-20] and by the Norwegian Parliament on June 8, 2007. Statoil's shareholders hold 67.3% of the new company, with Norsk Hydro shareholders owning the remaining 32.7%. The Norwegian Government, the biggest shareholder in both Statoil and Norsk Hydro, holds 62.5% of the company. [cite web |url=http://www.statoilhydro.com/en/InvestorCentre/Share/Shareholders/Top20/Pages/default.aspx |title=Top 20 shareholders |author=StatoilHydro |date=2007-10 |accessdate=2007-10-16]Jens Stoltenberg , the NorwegianPrime Minister commented that he views the merger as "the start of a new era. We are creating a global energy company and strengthening Norway’s oil and gas industry." [ [http://odin.dep.no/smk/english/news/press_centre/press_releases/001001-071626/dok-bn.html] ]It has been noted within the analyst community that a proposal will create an entity with much more competitive strength versus its much larger European rivals, including BP,
Total S.A. and Shell, while also increasing the ability of the company to make strategic acquisitions, particularly in theGulf of Mexico . [cite web |url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116642748971353246.html?mod=home_whats_news_us |title=Statoil, Norsk Hydro Create an Energy Behemoth |author=Wall Street Journal |date=2006-12-19 |accessdate=2007-06-20] It is the ninth largest oil company in the world, and would be the 48th largest company in the world on the currentFortune Global 500 list with a revenue of NOK 480 billion.The company's management team was initially to be led by President and CEO
Helge Lund (who previously held the same posts at Statoil), withEivind Reiten , the President and CEO of Hydro, acting as Chairman.. However, Eivind Reiten decided to resign as chairman three days after the merger because of a possible corruption case in Hydro's former oil division. The Vice-Chair and former Minister of Petroleum and EnergyMarit Arnstad served as chairperson until 1 April, whenSvein Rennemo took up the post on a permanent basis after resigning as the CEO of the Norwegian oil services companyPetroleum Geo-Services (PGS).Controversy and corruption
Rotvoll controversy
In 1991 there arose a controversy between Statoil and local environmentalists, mainly from
Natur og Ungdom andFriends of the Earth Norway , who protested the building of a newresearch and development centre atRotvoll inTrondheim ,Norway ,wetlands area close to the city with significant bird life.. The controversy was climaxed withcivil disobedience by the environmentalists, but the centre was still built.tatoil corruption case
The Statoil corruption case refers to the company's misconduct and use of corruption in
Iran in 2002/2003 in an attempt to secure lucrative oil contracts in that country. This was mainly achieved by hiring the services of Horton Investments, an Iranian consultancy firm owned by Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani, son of former Iranian PresidentHashemi Rafsanjani . Horton Investments was paid USD 15.2 million by Statoil to influence important political figures in Iran to grant oil contracts to Statoil. The corruption scandal was uncovered by Norwegian paperDagens Næringsliv onSeptember 3 ,2003 .Corrib gas project
Statoil is a partner of
Royal Dutch Shell in theCorrib gas project , which entails developing anatural gas field off the northwest of Ireland. The project has proved controversial among locals and has led to the establishment of a national campaign called 'Shell to Sea '. The protests came to a head in the summer of 2005, when five men fromCounty Mayo , nicknamed theRossport Five , were jailed because of their opposition to the project, and Statoil filling stations around Ireland were picketed, although these are only operated under franchise by [http://www.topazenergy.ie/ Topaz Energy] . Since then protests have continued at the site of the refinery atBellanaboy , often turning into to scuffles betweenAn Garda Síochána and scores of protestors attempting to block access to the site by the 650 workers. [cite web |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/1109/corrib.html/ |title=Three held at Bellanaboy protest (2007-11-9) |author=RTÉ |accessdate=2008-05-05] [cite web |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0713/corrib.html/ |title=Protest at site of Corrib gas terminal(2007-07-13) |author=RTÉ |accessdate=2008-05-05] [cite web |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0605/corrib.html/ |title=Five Corrib protestors charged after demo(2007-06-05) |author=RTÉ |accessdate=2008-05-05] The refinery is expected to be close to completion by the end of 2008, and is claimed to be the largest building project in the country. [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7368246.stm |title=Breakthrough in Shell gas dispute (2008-04-26) |author=BBC Northern Ireland |accessdate=2008-05-05]Corruption
The possible consultancy agreements and transactions associated with Hydro’s operations in Libya are under investigation. In an article in
Aftenposten 9 November 2007 the journalistErling Borgen criticizes Helge Lund for StatoilHydro's participation in corrupt and undemocratic countries. Helge Lund has stated that it is not his or StatoilHydro's intention to express opinions on such issues.Investors relations
The company has in all years generated massive revenues. However, problems have gradually begun to emerge. The production of oil in the north sea has steadily decreased since 2001, and is by February 2008 31% lower than in 2001. This is partly due to steadily greater difficulties with pumping up oils from the wells. This steady trend of diminishing production seems to be unstoppable before major new areas have been explored and opened for production.
The cost of production and developing new fields also have escalated in the last years. In 2008 there were also great difficulties with the technical installation themselves. Such difficulties may persist because many installations are now old and need increasing maintenance. The company also has difficulties due to low dollar quotes.
In spite of currently (as of 2008) high oil prices, these difficulties made the revenues drop from from 15.0 billions Nkr in 4.qu 2006 to 6.2 billions Nkr in 4.qu 2007. Because of the mentioned difficulties, the level of revenues for 2008 and coming years are uncertain, but likely to decline.
Environmental Record
Statoil and Shell were planning on building a gas-fire powerplant in Norway that would infuse CO2 underground or beneath the seabed, but they discarded the plan due to economic reasons. [ [http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL2917344820070629 Statoil, Shell shelve Draugen field CO2 injection | Environment | Reuters ] ]
StatoilHydro has injected CO2 into the
Utsira formation on theSleipner field for environmental storage purposes since 1996. Natural gas containing approximately 8.5% CO2 is produced on the Sleipner Vest field. The gas is transported to the Sleipner Treatment platform, where the CO2 is removed. The gas is exported to the UK, Germany and Belgium, and the CO2 is injected into the Utsira formation where it is safely stored.Fact|date=June 2008References
External links
* [http://www.statoilhydro.com/ Corporate website]
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