Cost cutting and high operational performance drove Norway's state-owned oil producer Statoil's "solid financial results and strong cash flow," it said July 27. They were also boosted by a reversal of a provision in Angola of $754mn.

Its net income was $1.436bn, up from negative $0.302bn in the same period last year. Net operating income was $3.244bn in the second quarter compared with $0.180bn in the same period of 2016.

"With oil prices around $50/barrel, we have generated $4bn in free cash flow, and reduced our net debt ratio by 8.1 percentage points since the start of the year. We expect to deliver around 5% production growth this year, and at the same time realise an additional $1bn in efficiencies,” said CEO Eldar Saetre.

“So far this year, we have drilled 14 exploration wells and made nine discoveries. Several of these can quickly be put into profitable production.... Based on strict prioritisation and efficient drilling operations we are able to reduce our guidance for exploration spending this year to around $1.3bn," he said.

Statoil delivered equity production of 1.996mn barrels of oil equivalent/day in the second quarter, an increase of 2% from 1.959mn boe/d in the same period in 2016. Of that, gas rose from 820,000 boe/d to 862,000 boe/d and the company sold some at higher prices than in the same period last year. The output increase was primarily due to strong operational performance, higher gas offtake and the ramp-up of new fields, it said.

William Powell