Statoil Defers Decision on $5.7B Oil Recovery Project

Rig Zone ^ | December 01, 2014 | Reuters

[thackney]

Norway's Statoil said it has postponed a decision to invest 40 billion crowns ($5.74 billion) in a mature field, saying that it needed more time to refine the project as its profitability was under threat.

Statoil said it would decide in October next year instead of March whether to go ahead with a new platform at the Snorre field in the Norwegian Sea as it hoped to cut costs and get more precise cost estimates.

The project, which could squeeze another 240 million barrels of oil out of the field, has been in doubt due to high costs, and uncertainty has risen since oil prices tumbled to a five-year low.

Statoil said a final decision on whether to build a new Snorre platform and extend the field's lifetime to 2040 would be taken in the fourth quarter of 2016 and production would start in the fourth quarter of 2021.

[thackney]

This following the recent:

Statoil Scuttles Ultra-deepwater Rig Contract; Pays $350mm To Back Away
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3229630/posts
11/21/2014

[Gay State Conservative]

All civilized countries that produce oil should continue to do so despite falling prices.This is exactly what OPEC (and the USSR) wants...shutting down production in the US,Norway and elsewhere.

[Old Retired Army Guy]

As OPEC continues to push the price of oil down, you will see a lot of exploration and drilling efforts get capped because of profitability issues. OPEC knows that restarting those efforts will take a lot of time and money while they push the prices back up. Don’t get to happy about falling Gas prices. It wont last.

[thackney]

All civilized countries that produce oil should continue to do so despite falling prices.

Be sure to invest in companies that spend more money than they produce in revenue.

Producing oil isn't a hobby or charity.

[Blood of Tyrants]

It’s all temporary. As soon as the price of oil goes back up, the drilling and exploration continue.

[Gay State Conservative]

Be sure to invest in companies that spend more money than they produce in revenue.

Thirty four years ago,on my first visit to Guangzhou,China (once know in the West as "Canton") "rush hour" was a few trucks,a few buses,a few military vehicles and about 50,000 bicycles.On my most recent visit to that same city (earlier this year) rush hour was bumber-to-bumper Toyotas,Kias,Hundyais and Buicks (yes,Buicks).

Any drop in oil prices will be *very* temporary.A year or two,if not less.And if OPEC succeeds in shutting down fracking,and other production,in the bargain then it's the civilized world that loses.

[Oliviaforever]

This is simply collateral damage to an innocent victim by the big producers to put the screws to Putin.

[Oliviaforever]

“Producing oil isn’t a hobby or charity.”

Great line.

And spot on, as three are people who believes that oil should be sold under market value.

But with this downturn prices, it would appear that the Saudis and thus OPEC are working with US foreign policy to make Putin hurt.