Statoil invests 2.9 bln USD in Petrobras oil field

HOUSTON, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Norwegian oil giant Statoil on Monday announced an agreement with Petrobras to acquire a 25 percent stake in Roncador, a large oil field in the Campos Basin off the coast of Brazil, for up to 2.9 billion U.S. dollars.

Statoil, a multinational oil and gas company in which the government of Norway is the largest shareholder, almost tripled its production in the South American country through the transaction.

Linhua Guan, chairman of Star Energy and former president of Statoil Technology Services Ltd in Beijing, said the investment demonstrates Statoil's ability to leverage its technology competence developed on the Norwegian continental shelf to create value for its shareholders.

Petrobras is a publicly held Brazilian multinational corporation in the petroleum industry headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The company is operating on an integrated basis and specializing in the oil, natural gas and energy industry.

"This transaction adds material and attractive long-term production to our international portfolio, further strengthening the position of Brazil as a core area for Statoil," said Statoil president and CEO Eldar Saetre.

"Strategic partnerships are an important part of our business plan and Statoil's knowledge and experience in increasing the level of oil recovery in mature fields will add value not only to our joint operations in Roncador, but to other mature fields in the Campos Basin, with huge potential to positively impact future production in the area," Petrobras CEO Pedro Parente said.

The Roncador field is the largest offshore oil field discovered in Brazil in the 1990s and is currently Petrobras' third largest oil field with reserves of 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent and recoverable reserves estimated at 1 billion.

The field has been in production since 1999 with an output of around 240,000 barrels of oil per day plus around 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of associated gas last month.

"Both companies have been collaborating with each other for many years and this deal is the natural 'fruit' of years of cooperation," said Guan.

Statoil is a fully integrated petroleum company with operations in 36 countries. By revenue, Statoil is ranked by Forbes as the world's 11th largest oil and gas company and the 26th largest company, regardless of industry, by profit in the world. Enditem