Statoil ASA

2015 second quarter results - Seite 2

In the quarter, Statoil made two discoveries on the NCS. In July, Statoil announced a discovery in the Julius prospect in the King Lear area in the North Sea. Three wells are on-going, one on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf, one in the Gulf of Mexico and one in Canada. In addition, Statoil has secured access to frontier acreages offshore Nicaragua and Myanmar. The adjusted exploration expense in the quarter was NOK 4.1 billion, up from NOK 2.7 billion in the second quarter of 2014.

Cash flow from operations amounted to NOK 48.0 billion in the first half of 2015. Statoil maintained a strong capital structure, and net debt to capital employed at the end of the quarter is reduced to 22.4%. Organic capital expenditure was USD 7.8 billion in the first half, and the guidance has been revised downwards to USD 17.5 billion for 2015 due to effects of the on-going efficiency program and the USD/NOK exchange rate.

With effect from first quarter of 2016, Statoil will change to USD as presentation currency. The change reflects the company's underlying exposure to the USD as well as better alignment of its reporting to peers. As a consequence of the change in presentation currency, Statoil will also declare its quarterly dividend in USD. The change will be implemented from the second quarter of 2015 and Statoil is announcing the second quarter dividend in both USD and NOK, based on the exchange rate on 27 July 2015. The change in dividends policy implies that dividend will be announced in USD going forward.

The board of directors has decided to pay dividend of USD 0.2201 per ordinary share equivalent to NOK 1.80 for the second quarter and the Statoil share will trade ex-dividend on Oslo Børs 13 November 2015.

The serious incident frequency (SIF) for the 12 months period ending 30 June 2015 was 0.6, compared to 0.7 the same period last year.

Key events since first quarter 2015:

• The construction of the Johan Sverdrup began and so far contracts worth more than NOK 40 billion have been awarded
  
  
• Statoil made two discoveries on the NCS in the quarter. In July, Statoil announced a discovery in the Julius prospect in the King Lear area in the North Sea. In addition, Statoil announced an oil discovery in the Yeti prospect in the Gulf of Mexico and gained access to acreage offshore Nicaragua and Myanmar