Statoil, Norways biggest oil producer, plans to challenge Abu Dhabi National Oil Cos existing partners such as ExxonMobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell for a role in the UAEs resources.
"We are positioning ourselves for the relicensing rounds in 2014 and 2018, showing Adnoc that they can have added value from us," Neri Askland, Statoil's Abu Dhabi and Gulf Cooperation Council country representative, said in a recent interview. "We haven't earmarked any specific field, because we don't know how they will relicense them."
Statoil opened an office in Abu Dhabi in August and will add a business development executive in a month as well as expertise in exploration and production in the coming year as it seeks to export its knowledge of enhanced oil recovery and carbon capture, he said.
The company plans to spend as much as US$60 billion over the next decade to expand its oil and natural gas industry, including boosting crude production capacity to 3.5mn barrels a day from about 2.8mn now. Statoil is expanding internationally as output from Norway, the world's seventh-largest oil exporter, diminishes.
Meanwhile, Statoil is sending out an invitation to tender for a new type of drilling rig. It is specially-designed by the industry on behalf of Statoil for use on mature fields on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). The purpose is to make drilling and completion of production wells less expensive, more effective and safer, and thereby boost oil recovery.
Discoveries on the NCS are getting smaller and it is becoming more important to increase drilling activity in mature fields to attain the full potential of the NCS. To meet this challenge, lower rig rates, greater drilling efficiency and access to rigs are key factors. Plans call for the contract to be awarded in the third quarter of 2011 and the rigs to be delivered in the second half of 2014.
