October 2012, Vol. 239 No. 10

In The News

Statoil Looking For More U.S. Shale Acreage

Statoil is looking to pick up more shale acreage in the United States even though it nearly has all the assets it needs to meet its 2020 production plans, a top official recently told Reuters.

“We are all the time looking to pick up more acreage,” Torstein Hole, senior vice president for U.S. onshore activities, said. “We prioritize acquisitions in areas where we are already present. But we are also looking for new plays where we can acquire acreage and that will most likely come from immature plays where we have a lower cost of entry.”

Statoil produces shale oil and gas in the Eagle Ford basin in Texas, the Bakken area in Montana and North Dakota, and the Marcellus area mostly in New York.

Statoil aims to lift its North American production to 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2020 from less than 100,000 in 2011, with about 300,000 from onshore operations. The rest would come from the Gulf of Mexico, where Statoil already produces.