Statoil (STO) & Partners Ink Agreement to Build CO2 Storage

Norwegian oil giant Statoil ASA STO along with Norwegian subsidiaries of Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A and Total SA TOT have inked a partnership agreement for advancing the development of carbon storage on the Norwegian continental shelf ("NCS").

The project, which will be lead by Statoil, is an attempt by the Norwegian authorities to construct complete carbon capture and storage in Norway.

The first phase of the project was awarded to Statoil by Gassnova in June. Both Royal Dutch Shell and Total are now entering as equal partners. All the partners are liable to supply personnel, expertise and funds.

The first phase of this CO2 project is expected to attain a capacity of about 1.5 million ton per year. The project is intended to hold incremental CO2 volumes, which will encourage new commercial carbon capture projects in Norway, Europe and worldwide. Thus, the project is likely to be the first of its kind globally that would receive CO2 for storing from industrial sources in several countries.

This project will involve storage of CO2 captured from onshore industrial facilities in Eastern Norway at an offshore site. Consequently, this CO2 from the capture facilities will be carried by ships to a receiving terminal located onshore on the west-coast of Norway. CO2 from the receiving terminal will again be transferred by the ship to transitional storage tanks before being transported via a pipeline on the seabed to injection wells east of the Troll field on the NCS.

So far, three possible locations for the receiving terminal have been proposed. However, a final decision is likely to be taken by the end of the year.

About Statoil

The company has operations in all major hydrocarbon-producing regions of the world, with an emphasis on the NCS. We believe that the company is well positioned to sustain steady production growth in the coming few years on the back of a large resource base at NCS. The continuous endeavor of the company to increase shelf life is also reflected in its price chart. Shares of Statoil have returned 22.9% compared with the industry’s increase of 10.1% over the last three months. The company’s high leverage is a cause for concern.

 

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Currently, Statoil carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Another better-ranked player in the energy sector includes Lonestar Resources US Inc LONE, which sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
 
Lonestar Resources, headquartered in Fort Worth, the United States, is an oil and gas company. The company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 62.5% in the preceding quarter.

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