Norway's Statoil today reported first-quarter net profits of 16 billion kroner (€2 billion), far better than expected, thanks largely to the higher price of crude.
A 33% increase in the average price of oil and a 20% increase in the price of gas had helped results, said Statoil. Turnover was also strong, up 13% to 145.6 billion kroner.
Total equity production stood at 1.97 million barrels of oil equivalent per day for the first quarter of 2011 - down 6% from the same time last year.
The company said it expected production for 2011 to stay at around the 2010 level, or slightly below, but to increase by around 3% in 2012.
