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Norwegian oil giant Statoil said Thursday it was exiting its oil sands projects in Canada, booking a loss, in a move hailed by environmental activists. The group said it had reached an agreement to sell its 100-percent stake in the Kai Kos Dehseh (KKD) oil sands projects in the province of Alberta, to the Athabasca Oil Corporation of Canada for CAD$832 million (5.4 billion kroner, $626 million, €597 million). Following the divestment, Statoil will not operate any oil sands projects, a business area the deepwater oil specialist had moved into to great dismay of analysts. Statoil will take a loss...

Statoil has hit oil at a well in the Gulf of Mexico about 220 miles south of New Orleans. The Norwegian company has not yet determined the size of the find. Statoil's discovery, known as Miocene Yeti, targets oil in the well-explored Walker Ridge area of the Gulf of Mexico. Statoil operates the Yeti prospect and owns a 50 percent interest. Partners Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Samson Offshore own 37.5 percent and 12.5 percent interests, respectively. In a statement, Jez Averty, Statoil senior vice president for exploration in North America, said the company is now "analyzing data to determine the...

The EU has unveiled plans to reduce its reliance on Russian gas, with increased imports from Norway and energy efficiency at the top of its wish list. […] Although EU countries import 88 percent of the oil that they use, as well as 42 percent of solid fuel, the main concern of the commission and governments is gas—66 percent of Europe’s gas is imported at a cost of more than €1 billion per day. Of the 400 billion cubic metres of gas consumed in the EU each year, around 40 percent comes from Russia’s state-owned Gazprom. The majority of this...

HOUSTON, Nov. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Statoil and NASA have formed an agreement to explore a wide range of technologies to assist Statoil in the search for oil and gas exploration and production efforts, which are increasingly moving into frontier regions. The contract with NASA is effectuated at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at Pasadena, California, which is managed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Statoil has a solid track record of being an innovative energy company and are always looking for safer, more cost effective and smarter solutions. Collaborating with world leading institutions, working across disciplines, has led to...

One thing that makes the energy sector so intriguing is the constant overlap between markets and politics. In many ways, energy security is synonymous with national security, and the supply and demand needs of the oil market can make the most unlikely bedfellows. One country that has been at the center of energy and politics for decades has been Israel. For years the country has been dependent upon foreign energy sources, but a major discovery by Noble Energy (NYSE: NBL ) and its partners has turned this situation on its head. Let's look how this massive natural gas find could...

'Thirty-five hostages killed in Algerian helicopter attack on BP gas plant siege': Two Brits feared dead, but some captives including Americans and Irish have escaped Helicopters 'began strafing' complex, also killing 15 militants, claim rebelsMilitants had earlier threatened to blow up the hostages if they intervened Al-Qaeda group also demand safe passage out of facility with the hostagesTwo British nationals and Algerian are believed to have been killed in siegeBritain will allow Algeria to 'take the lead', but will consider request for helpPM Cameron: 'Extent of attack suggests considerable degree of planning'Attack was planned by 'one-eyed Islamist known as...

BAMAKO, Mali — Kidnappers and at least some of their hostages were killed on Thursday as Algerian forces raided a gas facility where a heavily armed group of Islamist extremists was holding dozens of captives, including Americans and other foreigners, the Algerian government announced. In a statement on national radio, the communications minister, Mohand Saïd Oublaïd, said that many of the hostages had been freed, but he warned that the military assault was not yet complete and that some captives remained trapped inside the remote facility in the Algerian desert. “The operation resulted in the neutralization of a large number...

Two Americans escaped unharmed Thursday from a hostage standoff with an Al Qaeda-linked group as Algeria's state news agency reports special forces have completed a rescue operation to free the remaining foreign hostages, but casualties have been reported. Algerian state television said that four captives, two Britons and two Filipinos have died. But the militants said at least 35 hostages had died in the state's rescue attempt. There was no way to independently verify the toll in the remote location, 800 miles from Algiers. The two Americans who managed to escape the Ain Amenas gas plant where they were being...

(Reuters) - Thirty hostages and at least 11 Islamist militants were killed on Thursday when Algerian forces stormed a desert gas plant in a bid to free many dozens of Western and local captives, an Algerian security source said. Two Japanese, two Britons and a French national were among at least seven foreigners killed, the source told Reuters. Eight of the dead hostages were Algerian. The nationalities of the rest, as well as of perhaps dozens more who escaped, were unclear. Americans, Norwegians, Romanians and an Austrian have also been mentioned by their governments as having been captured. Underlining the...

An American from Texas remains missing after an Algerian military raid on an Al Qaeda-linked group reportedly ended a hostage standoff at a remote gas plant in the Saharan Desert. Two Americans escaped unharmed Thursday from the hostage standoff, a senior U.S. defense officials told Fox News, and five other Americans who had been at the vast Ain Amenas complex were able to avoid being taken captive when the terrorists first attacked early Wednesday. The Associated Press reports at least six people, and perhaps many more, were killed -- Britons, Filipinos and Algerians -- in the Algerians special forces' rescue...

Islamist militants attacked a gas field in Algeria on Wednesday, claiming to have kidnapped up to 41 foreigners including seven Americans in a dawn raid in retaliation for France's intervention in Mali, according to regional media reports. The raiders were also reported to have killed three people, including a Briton and a French national. An al Qaeda affiliated group said the raid had been carried out because of Algeria's decision to allow France to use its air space for attacks against Islamists in Mali, where French forces have been in action against al Qaeda-linked militants since last week. The attack...

In Amenas is operated by the Algerian company Sonatrach with BP and Statoil Islamist militants have attacked and occupied a gas facility in Algeria, killing a Briton and an Algerian and taking foreign workers hostage.Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kabila said troops had surrounded the living quarters at In Amenas, where some 20 people were being held.Norwegian, French, British, US and Japanese citizens are among them.Mr Ould Kabila said the militants wanted to leave Algeria with the hostages, which he would not allow.Earlier, the AFP news agency quoted one worker as saying the militants had demanded the release of 100...

HOUSTON — State-owned Chinese energy giant CNOOC is buying a multibillion-dollar stake in 600,000 acres of South Texas oil and gas fields, potentially testing the political waters for further expansion into U.S. energy reserves. With the announcement Monday that it would pay up to $2.2 billion for a one-third stake in Chesapeake Energy assets, CNOOC lays claim to a share of properties that eventually could produce up to half a million barrels a day of oil equivalent.

South Texas region draws third big investment in a weekNEW YORK (MarketWatch) — China National Offshore Oil Corp. and Norway’s Statoil ASA announced separate deals, both valued at more than $2 billion, to develop the Eagle Ford shale in south Texas. Statoil said Monday it would team up with Canada-based Talisman Energy Inc. to buy acreage in the Eagle Ford shale. Statoil and Talisman formed a joint venture to purchase assets from Enduring Resources LLC for $1.33 billion. Statoil will also pay $180 million for additional acreage. Statoil’s share of the two transactions will cost $843 million. Late Sunday, Cnooc...

Energy giants Total, Shell, Statoil and Eni have pledged to end their investments in Iran. The pledges fall in line with tough new energy and financial measures the U.S. Congress imposed on Iran in June, which came atop U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed earlier the same month to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.

WASHINGTON - UNDER threat of US sanctions, European oil firms Total, Shell, Statoil and Eni have pledged to stop investing in Iran in what amounts to a 'significant setback' to Teheran, a US official said on Thursday. The pledges fall in line with new energy and financial measures against Iran that US President Barack Obama signed into law in July in the wake of UN Security Council sanctions imposed in June to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. 'We have received commitments from four international energy firms to terminate their investments and avoid any new activity in Iran's energy sector,' Deputy Secretary...

OSLO (AFP) – Norwegian energy group Statoil said Wednesday it was selling some of its US offshore oil assets to China's state-owned CNOOC, marking the first step by a Chinese energy major into the US market. The sale, announced along with Statoil's quarterly results, involves a limited stake for the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in four exploitation licences for deepwater blocks bought in 2007 and 2008. "On 29 October Statoil signed a farm down agreement with the Chinese company CNOOC involving a number of Statoil's leases in the Gulf of Mexico," Statoil said in its third-quarter earnings statement....

Both Norwegian oil company Statoil and Norsk Hydro have struck more oil in territorial waters of the North Sea. It's not clear how much oil is involved. Norway's oil directorate reported Monday that Statoil found the oil in a well that lies 35 kilometers east of the Gudrun field. Statoil has a 30 percent stake in the area, along with the national agency Petoro that represents the state's direct oil investment and Det Norske Oljeselskap. Talisman Energy Norge AS has the remaining 10 percent, and Statoil is the operator. The sea is 113 meters deep at the site of the...

Norway's two biggest companies want to form one of the biggest oil companies in the world, through a merger between Statoil and the oil and gas division of Norsk Hydro. Both companies are heavily state-owned, and government officials are supporting the pending deal. Statoil's young boss, Helge Lund, would become chief executive of the new oil giant, while Hydro chief executive Eivind Reiten would become chairman of the merged company. Reiten would remain chief executive of Hydro Aluminium, which would also retain Hydro's operations within the hydro-electric and solar industries. Lund called the merger "an historic milestone," adding that "the...