Statoil focuses on operational performance

Even as it took a loss for the fourth quarter, Norwegian energy major Statoil said its production was up 2 percent from the same time last year.

Statoil is one of Europe's dominant energy players and Norway is one of the region's top suppliers of oil and gas, apart from Russia. The company said Tuesday its equity production for the fourth quarter was 2.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, up about 49,000 boe from the same period in 2015.

"Excluding divestments, the underlying production growth was 2 percent compared to the fourth quarter last year," the company said in a statement.

The Norwegian government reported preliminary production for December was around 2 million barrels per day, which was 3 percent lower than November. Full-year production, however, showed an increase for the third straight year.

Statoil's production trend comes as companies start to increase their exploration and production operations in response to improved crude oil prices. The company said it completed nearly two dozen exploration wells last year and its adjusted exploration expenses for the fourth quarter were up 2 percent year-on-year to $607 million.

After taking a net operating loss of $1.9 billion, the company said it was focused on trimming costs by as much as $1 billion for 2017.

Eldar Saetre, the company's president and CEO, said cost-cutting efforts would have lasting impacts and, despite the loss, Statoil remained one of Europe's top producers.

"We delivered strong production and solid operational performance across all segments in the quarter," he said.

Statoil is leading development efforts at the Johan Sverdrup oil field off the Norwegian coast. At peak capacity, Johan Sverdrup should account for up to 25 percent of country's total petroleum production.