VZCZCXRO9352
RR RUEHDE
DE RUEHNY #0363/01 0821436
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 231436Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY OSLO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3678
INFO RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM 2796
RUEHHE/AMEMBASSY HELSINKI 7769
RUEHRK/AMEMBASSY REYKJAVIK 0659
RUEHCP/AMEMBASSY COPENHAGEN 2031
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1324
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 3870
RUEHHH/OPEC COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RHEBAAA/USDOE WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 OSLO 000363 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
PARIS FOR USOECD 
STATE FOR EUR/NB RDALLAND, EB/ESC SGALLOGLY, 
RGARVERICK 
USDOC FOR 4212 MAC/EUR/OEURA 
USDOE FOR PI DPUMPHRY, ZHADDAD, LEKIMOFF; FE FOR 
EROSSI, JSLUTZ, GDEHORATIIS, JSWIFT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EPET ENRG EINV ECON PREL SENV NO
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR MEETS NORWEGIAN PETROLEUM 
INDUSTRY LEADERS IN STAVANGER 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) The Ambassador met with leading U.S. and 
Norwegian petroleum firm executives during his 
initial visit to Stavanger, Norway's "oil capital," 
March 13-15.  Discussions with Statoil, 
ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Marathon and 
Halliburton focused largely on the firms' 
operations and plans on the Norwegian Continental 
Shelf (NCS), High North energy, and Russia's 
Shtokman natural gas project.  With respect to the 
High North, some executives were skeptical about 
prospects for the Norwegian side of the Barents 
Sea.  ConocoPhillips is bidding on Barents acreage 
in Norway's 19th petroleum concession licensing 
round, but considers it a "high risk" option 
unlikely to be developed for a decade or so. 
ExxonMobil is not bidding at all.  Statoil, on the 
other hand, is sinking billions into developing 
Barents resources, notably the Snoehvit natural gas 
field off Hammerfest.  Two companies on Gazprom's 
shortlist for the Shtokman project -- 
ConocoPhillips and Statoil -- were enthusiastic 
about its prospects.  Both firms wished to see 
Norway and Russia settle the disputed maritime 
border to open up promising areas of the current 
"disputed zone" to exploration.  End summary. 
 
Statoil: Determined to Push into High North 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Statoil CEO Helge Lund laid out the 
company's "strategic agenda" for the Ambassador. 
Lund cited four key areas.  First, Statoil aimed to 
continue growing on the Norwegian Continental 
Shelf, including in the Barents, with an ambitious 
goal of producing as much petroleum in 2015 as it 
does now (a tall order given declining oil 
production rates in the North Sea).  Second, 
Statoil, already an important supplier of natural 
gas to Europe, sought to expand gas production 
significantly in the next decade, marketing 
additional volumes to Europe by pipeline and to the 
U.S. as LNG.  Third, Statoil looked to strengthen 
its international position by expanding operations 
in the Gulf of Mexico, Russia, Azerbaijan, Algeria 
and elsewhere.  Fourth, Statoil planned to boost 
its downstream marketing operations, e.g. by 
increasing the number of its retail gas stations. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) On High North energy, Lund said Statoil 
viewed the Barents as one unified region without 
regard to the disputed Russian-Norwegian maritime 
border.  A border settlement was necessary for the 
Barents to reach its full potential, though, said 
Lund, "We don't push" the government on the issue. 
It was important for a Norwegian company to be 
included in Russia's Shtokman project.  Lund 
predicted that Gazprom would announce its choice of 
partners within the next couple of months, but the 
subsequent commercial negotiations to nail down the 
final deal would take time.  Lund said he would 
feel "more at ease" with a strong U.S. partner in 
Shtokman to balance Gazprom politically. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Lund also discussed energy security 
issues, which he noted were rising on the EU's 
agenda.  Statoil was pushing Norwegian authorities 
for permission to exploit a new area in the vast 
Troll gas field in the North Sea, which could lead 
to construction of an additional undersea pipeline 
to northern Europe.  Statoil was also looking to 
expand gas export volumes to the EU from Algeria, 
 
OSLO 00000363  002 OF 004 
 
 
where it was the second largest foreign investor in 
the natural gas sector and could conceivably extend 
the Caspian gas pipeline network to Turkey into 
southeastern Europe.  Lund added that EU Energy 
Commissioner Andris Piebalgs had recently asked him 
why Statoil was planning to send Snoehvit gas to 
the United States instead of Europe. 
 
ConocoPhillips: Angling for a Share of Shtokman 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) ConocoPhillips executives told the 
Ambassador the firm was "extremely enthusiastic" 
about prospects for Russia's Shtokman natural gas 
field.  ConocoPhillips is on the short list of five 
potential Gazprom partners for Shtokman. 
ConocoPhillips "brings the U.S. gas market" to the 
deal, said the executives.  ConocoPhillips is the 
first or second largest gas marketer in the United 
States, and for Shtokman gas to get into the U.S. 
market, "they have to come through us." 
 
¶6.  (SBU) ConocoPhillips executives predicted that 
a natural gas "crunch" would hit the United States 
in the next decade, at least until expected new 
resources from Prudhoe Bay and Canada's McKenzie 
Delta come on line.  Shtokman gas could help fill 
the gap, but U.S. demand for Russian LNG could drop 
significantly when these new North American sources 
are available.  More volumes of Shtokman LNG would 
likely go to Europe than people now foresee.  The 
Shtokman project could also experience delays 
because the world market for petroleum contractors 
and specialists was very tight.  The industry was 
approaching the limit of its capacity in both 
available people and equipment. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) ConocoPhillips executives were very 
interested in seeing the Russian-Norwegian maritime 
border settled.  The "disputed zone" in the 
Barents, currently off-limits to exploration, 
likely held some very promising acreage. 
ConocoPhillips was less optimistic about the 
Norwegian Barents.  The firm was bidding on Barents 
acreage in Norway's 19th petroleum concession 
round, but the executives called the prospect a 
"very high risk option play" with "negative 
economics," though it could pan out in ten years or 
so.  Having drilled 8-10 wells in the area a decade 
or so ago, ConocoPhillips did not find the geology 
in the Norwegian Barents particularly promising and 
thought some Norwegian officials exhibited "wishful 
thinking" in touting High North energy resources. 
 
ExxonMobil: Earning Billions, Paying Billions 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The numbers that ExxonMobil executives 
gave the Ambassador told the story of the company's 
success in Norway last year -- USD 8 billion in 
revenue, USD 1.5 billion in profits, and USD 800 
million in new investment.  Perhaps more startling 
was ExxonMobil's tax bill -- USD 5 billion, the 
result of Norway's special 78 percent tax rate on 
petroleum firms.  ExxonMobil, the largest U.S. 
investor in Norway and the country's fourth largest 
firm, sends nearly all its Norwegian crude to its 
refinery in Slagentangen, south of Oslo, reselling 
the refined products domestically and in northern 
Europe. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) ExxonMobil was the only U.S. major in 
Norway that did not submit a bid on Barents acreage 
in the ongoing 19th petroleum concession licensing 
 
OSLO 00000363  003 OF 004 
 
 
round.  Company executives explained that they had 
wanted to enter the round but had reviewed the 
available seismic data for the acreage offered and 
had not found anything sufficiently promising to 
justify the risks.  Instead, the company was 
gambling on a high risk proposition to the south -- 
the Kogge gas field near the Norwegian-Danish 
maritime border.  Though there was only about a 15 
percent chance that Kogge would pan out, if the 
field came in it could provide a major new gas 
source for Europe. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Touching on another "High North" issue, 
ExxonMobil executives noted Norway's increasing 
activity around the Svalbard Islands north of the 
Arctic Circle.  The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate 
had recently sent an expedition to Svalbard that 
claimed that the Norwegian Continental Shelf 
extended above the islands, laying the potential 
groundwork for staking a claim to the region's 
offshore petroleum resources, if any.  Norway was 
taking "small steps toward the North Pole" said 
ExxonMobil executives.  Svalbard could be a source 
of future political problems, where Norwegian, EU, 
Russian and U.S. interests could collide. 
"Something has to happen there," they concluded. 
 
Marathon: Cutting Edge Technology for Alvheim Field 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶11.  (U) Marathon executives briefed the Ambassador 
on plans for further developing the firm's assets 
in and around the North Sea's Alvheim Field. 
Marathon's Norwegian operations have turned around 
dramatically over the last several years.  Marathon 
almost pulled out of the NCS five years ago, but 
its decision to stay paid off.  It has aggressively 
acquired North Sea acreage since 2001, increasing 
its licenses holdings from two to nineteen. 
Marathon plans to produce "first oil" from its 
Alvheim holdings in early 2007. 
 
¶12.  (U) Marathon is refitting a 9,000 ton tanker 
ship as a floating production and storage 
operations vessel (FPSO) for Alvheim.  Marathon 
executives told the Ambassador that the Norwegian 3- 
D modeling technology used to design the vessel was 
among the world's best.  The briefing took place at 
the Rosenberg Verft shipyard, where some of the 
equipment and facilities for the FPSO are being 
fabricated.  Rosenberg executives also briefed the 
Ambassador on the history and operations of the 
shipyard, where many of the offshore platforms now 
in use on the Norwegian Continental Shelf were 
built.  The Ambassador toured the yards and viewed 
some of the FPSO's facilities being constructed 
there.  A reporter from one of Norway's leading 
tabloids, VG, accompanied the party on the tour and 
wrote a feature article on the Ambassador's visit 
to Stavanger. 
 
Halliburton: Squeezing More Oil from Mature Fields 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶13.  (U) Halliburton executives briefed the 
Ambassador on the firm's Norwegian operations, 
which produced about USD 350 million in revenue 
last year.  Halliburton offers a full range of 
petroleum services in Norway, and is particularly 
proud of its record in increasing recovery rates in 
mature fields and reaching thin or smaller 
reservoirs with cutting-edge horizontal drilling 
techniques.  Halliburton executives cited the 
example of an older field that a major sold to a 
 
OSLO 00000363  004 OF 004 
 
 
small operator for 3 NOK (about 50 cents) several 
years ago.  Halliburton was able to squeeze so much 
additional oil from the reservoir that the small 
operator later sold it for one billion NOK (about 
USD 150 million).  Halliburton executives noted 
that an increasing number of new, smaller operators 
were being drawn to the niche market of squeezing 
additional oil from some largely played out North 
Sea fields. 
 
WHITNEY