OSLO: Norwegian oil giant Statoil stood by its production target for 2014 on Friday despite a second-quarter drop in output which weighed on its results.
Adjusted earnings, an indicator followed closely in financial markets, were down by 15 percent to 32.3 billion kroner (3.87 billion euros, $5.20 billion) compared to 38 billion kroner a year earlier.
The results were affected by divestments, seasonal effects and lower gas prices, said Statoil, which is 67-percent owned by the Norwegian state.
They were well below analyst expectations and Statoil shares were down by 2.54 percent in midday trading on the Oslo bourse, dragging the main index, which was 0.60 percent lower.
Oil and gas production fell by 8.5 percent in a year to 1.799 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, as a consequence of divestments, natural decline of mature fields and an adjournment of gas extraction waiting for a price recovery.
But the group kept its production target for 2014, expected to be 2 percent higher than in 2013 excluding divestments.
Also, oil prices were up by 9.0 percent in kroner.
Statoil said it recorded a 3.6-billion-kroner gain from the partial divestment of the Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan, which was offset by impairments of 4.3 billion kroner in non-conventional fossil fuel business in the US.
Despite the declining operationing results, net profit in the second quarter almost tripled to 11.9 billion kroner compared to 4.3 billion in the same period of 2013, a period heavily affected by extraordinary financial items.
Revenue slightly fell to 146.5 billion kroner from 147.5 billion kroner a year earlier.
On the exploration front, Statoil keeps getting good news from Tanzania, where the discovery of an important gas field was announced last month, the sixth on the same block.
However, an exploration campaign in Norway, in the much-touted Arctic region, has so far been very disappointing.
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