Statoil invests in North Sea field

STAVANGER, Norway, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Spending $15 million to acquire a stake in a North Sea natural gas prospect will enhance Norwegian and British energy potential, Norway's Statoil said.

Statoil announced it spent $15 million to acquire a 24 percent stake in the British license for the Alfa Sentral field from regional counterpart First Oil.

"Statoil has set ambitious goals for future activity, production and value creation," Statoil's divisional operations leader Mette Halvorsen Ottoy said in a statement. "This transaction demonstrates the potential on both the U.K. and Norwegian side of the continental shelf."

Preliminary production figures from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the nation's energy regulator, show an average daily production of around 1.9 million barrels of oil, natural gas liquids and condensate. That's about 2 percent less than July.

Low output and a weakened crude oil market have bruised the Norwegian economy. Growth has been slow for most of the year for Norway, with gross domestic product increasing by slightly less than 1 percent for the last four quarters combined.

A budget plan outlined in March by the British government, meanwhile, was designed to boost exploration for new oil and gas reserves in British territorial waters. Nevertheless, Oil & Gas U.K., the industry's lobbying group, said in its annual report new spending in exploration and production is expected to fall by up to $6 billion per year over the next three years for its lowest levels since the 1970s.

Statoil said Alfa Sentral holds about 60 million barrels of oil equivalent in natural gas and condensates. A final investment decision on field development is expected next year with the aim of starting production in 2020.