The Norwegian Oil company, Statoil's establishment of a new business with offices in London is interpreted as an attempt to move abroad.

According to Norwegian daily, Dagbladet, Statoil creates the new business area that has been named Global Strategy and Business Development. It will be operated from an office in London.

Professor of petroleum economics, Øystein Noreng told to the newspaper that he fears that the group is on its way out of Norway.

- I interpret the latest developments as the evidence of that the management of Statoil looks forward to getting out of Norway. There are reasons to fear about it. Professor Noreng also reminded the similar rumors about Swedish Vattenfall and he added that the management of the Statoil group thinks Stavanger and Oslo are not interesting anymore for them.

The Group's Strategy Out of Control

Øystein Noreng suggested that the group has less focus on the Norwegian continental shelf and merging of Hydro and Statoil caused lose of many people and the competition between oil companies on the Norwegian continental shelf. He also noted how the group's commitment in Iraq has increased in recent years and accused the Norwegian state of lacking the skills to manage its own companies that operate outside of Norway.

He concluded his remarks calling for a political debate in Norway about what Norwegians want with Statoil.

About Statoil

Statoil ASA,formerly known as StatoilHydro, is a Norwegian energy company, formed by the 2007 merger of Statoil with the oil and gas division of Norsk Hydro.

Statoil is the biggest offshore oil and gas company in the world and the largest company by revenue in the Nordic Region. The company is a fully integrated petroleum company with production operations in thirteen countries and retail operations in eight. By revenue Statoil is in 2009 ranked by Fortune Magazine as the world's 13th largest oil and gas company, and as the worlds 36th largest company.

Dagbladet

TAGS: Statoil, London, Stavanger, Oslo, Hydro, Russia, Iraq, Oil

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