Norwegian oil company Statoil today reported a first quarter 2015 net loss of NOK 35.4 billion ($4.6 billion) due to impairments.

Statoil said its net operating income in the first quarter of 2015 was negatively impacted by significant accounting charges related to asset impairments of NOK 46.1 billion ($6.1 billion), most of which are related to the US onshore unconventional assets.

The impairments were a result of a revision of Statoil’s long term economic planning assumptions, the company has said.

Statoil CEO Eldar Sætre. said: “We take a more cautious view due to the uncertainty in the commodity markets. It is important to maintain a solid foundation for our decisions. The underlying quality of the assets and the operational performance remains unchanged”

Adjusted earnings after tax were NOK 7.0 billion ($934 million) , compared to NOK 15.8 billion ($2.1 billion) in the same period last year.

Statoil said the reduction was mainly a result of the significant drop in the liquids prices, lower European gas prices and increased depreciation and operating costs.

The increase in depreciation and operating cost was largely a result of starting and ramping up production, and was impacted by the strong USD/NOK exchange rate, Statoil explained.

Source: www.offshoreenergytoday.com

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