THIS year’s second-quarter results of StatoilHydro were adversely affected by lower crude oil and gas prices, currency effects and an unusually high effective tax rate caused in part by tax on currency gains, the Norwegian oil and gas major said yesterday.
Net operating income in the second quarter was £2.28billion, compared to £6.14billion a year earlier, with adjusted earnings after tax amounting to just £882,000, down from £1.63million in the second quarter of 2008.
Group chief executive Helge Lund was upbeat, however. He said: “StatoilHydro maintains a high activity level and robust operations both in Norway and internationally. In a demanding market, our operational performance is solid.
“We have increased our efforts to reduce costs, and we continue to deliver good results from operations.
“So far this year we have completed 48 exploration and extension wells, 30 of which resulted in discoveries. Twenty-five of these discoveries were made on the Norwegian continental shelf.
“Although the outlook for the global economy seems somewhat less pessimistic and the balance of risks appears to have improved, the uncertainty remains high.”
StatoilHydro said that in the period its total equity production was 1.845million barrels of oil equivalent per day, down 3% from the second quarter of 2008 primarily because of declining production from mature fields.
The company also said it delivered an extensive exploration programme in the second quarter of 2009. Of 22 exploration wells completed before June 30, eight were drilled outwith Norwegian waters. Fourteen of the 22 have been announced as discoveries, two outside Norway.
StatoilHydro added that exploration spending was more than £390million in the second quarter of 2009, compared to £360million a year earlier, mainly because exploration activity and costs increased.