Statoil Posts Loss In Q4 Amid Charges, Lower Liquids Prices - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Norwegian energy firm Statoil ASA (STO) Friday reported a fourth-quarter net loss of 8.9 billion Norwegian kroner or 2.80 kroner per share, compared to profit of 14.8 billion kroner or 4.64 kroner per share in the same period in 2013, hit by accounting charges of 18 billion kroner mainly due to impairment losses related to Statoil's international operations and various exploration assets.

Adjusted earnings were 26.9 billion kroner, compared to 42.3 billion kroner, mainly caused by the significant drop in the liquids prices.

Adjusted earnings after tax amounted to 4.3 billion kroner, while it totaled 11.0 billion kroner in the same period last year, impacted by an effective tax rate of 84 percent compared to a normal level around 70 percent in 2013.

Revenues edged up to 147.0 billion kroner from last year's 146.5 billion kroner. Total revenues and other income fell to 152.6 billion kroner from 157.1 billion kroner.

Eldar Sætre, president and CEO, said, "Statoil's quarterly earnings were affected by the sharp drop in oil prices. Our net income was also impacted by specific accounting charges. Underlying performance and cash flows were solid in 2014, supported by profitable growth, strong operational improvements, and solid marketing- and trading results.

Equity production was 2,103 mboe per day, compared to 1,945 mboe per day in the same period in 2013, mainly due to start-up and ramp-up of production on various fields and higher production regularity compared to the same period last year.

The board of directors proposed a dividend of 1.80 kroner per share for the fourth quarter of 2014. The annual dividends for 2014 amounted to 7.20 kroner per share, an increase from 7.00 kroner per share in 2013.

Statoil expects to grow the organic production annually by around 2 percent from 2014-16, and by 3 percent from 2016-2018.