Reuters: Statoil banks on gas market rebound after second-quarter profit miss

Norwegian oil major Statoil ASA forecast a recovery in gas prices through the coming year and said it had held back some production in expectation of a market rebound, helping send its earnings well below expectations in the second quarter.

Europe's second-biggest gas supplier after Russia's Gazprom said its European gas prices fell 10 percent from a year earlier and it chose to hold back production, pushing some volumes into 2015 in anticipation of better prices ahead.

State-controlled Statoil, which sharply reduced spending plans earlier this year and announced cost-cutting measures, also said it had laid off around a 1,000 workers so far this year and could let go another 1,400 out of a 23,000-strong global workforce as it improves technical efficiency.
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