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Statoil history
Statoil company history timeline
1987-88 saw the largest scandal in the company’s history, the Mongstad scandal that made the until then unassailable CEO Arve Johnsen withdraw.
Production started in Gullfaks in 1987.
15 Johnsen, Arve, Statoil-år: Utfordringen [The Statoil years: The challenge] (Oslo, 1988), 36Google Scholar.
5 Maddison, Angus, Phases of Capitalist Development (Oxford, 1989), 177Google Scholar.
In 1990 Statoil expanded its interests into new Danish technology.
In 1991 a controversy arose between Statoil and local environmentalists, mainly from Natur og Ungdom and Friends of the Earth Norway, who protested the building of a newresearch and development centre at Rotvoll, in Trondheim, Norway, a wetlands area close to the city with significant bird life.
In 1991 Statoil's Norwegian marketing affiliate, Norsk Olje AS, an oil retail firm with 650 outlets throughout Norway, was renamed Statoil Norge AS and started using Statoil livery in its marketing.
1992: Statoil enters the Irish gas market through the purchase of BP's service stations in Ireland.
The Sleipner field came onstream in 1993 as planned.
In 1994 Statoil made significant headway into the United States energy market with the purchase of The Eastern Group, based in Virginia.
1994: Statoil and Neste join forces to form Borealis, a petrochemicals company.
27 Sveinung Engeland, “Ingeniørfabrikk på norsk: Oppbygginga av norsk petroleumsrelatert engineeringkompetanse” [The Norwegian engineering factory: The development of petroleum-related engineering skills in Norway] (PhD diss., University of Oslo, 1995).
In 1995 Hydro merged its stations in Norway and Denmark with Texaco, creating the joint venture HydroTexaco.
The Troll A natural gas platform, today operated by Statoil, in 1996 was not only “among the largest and most complex engineering projects in history,” it was “the largest object ever to be moved by man across the surface of the Earth.” Photo courtesy Amusing Planet.
The second volume—Nerheim, Gunnar, En gassnasjon blir til [A gas nation comes into being] (Oslo 1996)Google Scholar—was written with good access to the archive of the state oil company Statoil.
Statoil's share in the Sleipner field was 49.6 percent and its gas was due to come onstream in 1993. It was under the operatorship of Royal Dutch/Shell, which had an 8.3 percent share in it, with Statoil taking over as operator when the fields came onstream in 1996.
30 Larvik, Håkon, Statfjord: Nordsjøens største oljefelt [Statfjord: The North Sea's largest oil field] (Stavanger, 1997)Google Scholar.
Statoil faced other hurdles as well; in 1997 BP and Amoco merged, which necessitated the severing of the partnership between Statoil and BP.
In 1998 the Franpipe gas trunkline went onstream.
Low oil prices plagued the entire industry, and in 1998 Statoil reported a net income of NKr 1.64 billion on sales of NKr 114 billion, a decrease from the previous year's net income of NKr 6.5 billion on sales of NKr 134 billion.
56 Petter Nore, “Norsk Hydro's Takeover of Saga Petroleum in 1999: A Case Study,” Maktog demokratiutredningens rapportserie 73 (Aug.
In 1999 Hydro acquired Norway’s third largest petroleum company Saga Petroleum, who had major upstream operations primarily in Norway and the United Kingdom.
Olav Fjell, who joined Statoil as CEO in 1999, explained that for the company to remain successful in an increasingly competitive and volatile climate, it needed to make significant changes.
In 2000 gas production began from Asgard B, and the Asgard gas pipeline to Karsto began operation.
Since 2000, our business has grown as a result of substantial investments on the NCS and internationally.
The Norwegian state’s share of the company after the merge was initially 62.5%. As a parliamentary decision in 2001 said it was a goal that the government should own 67% of Statoil, it was announced that the Norwegian government intended to increase its share.
2001: The company changes its name to Statoil ASA and is listed on the Oslo and New York stock exchanges.
The Storting resolved in the spring of 2001 that 21.5 percent of the SDFI's assets could be sold.
Statoil barreled ahead with expansion and exploration, and in 2002 it commenced construction of the Snohvit project, a subsea development in the Barents Sea, located on the Norwegian shelf.
Statoil allegedly signed an 11-year contract in 2002 with Iranian consultancy firm Horton Investments and paid the firm $15.2 million.
47 Lerpold, Lin, Reputation by Association: Exploring Alliance Formation and Organizational Identity Adaptation (Stockholm, 2003)Google Scholar.
In early 2003 Statoil was named operator of gas sales for the Shah Deniz gas and condensate field in Azerbaijan.
At the close of 2003 Statoil announced that it would enter a joint venture to develop and operate a 740-mile pipeline from Ormen Lange, the second largest gas field in Norway, to the United Kingdom.
2003: Statoil's CEO and chairman both resign as a result of a corruption scandal.
In 2004, IBM worked with Petrobras, one of the world’s largest oil companies, based in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
“The LeTourneau Mobile Offshore Platform was basically a large, shallow-draft barge, equipped with three electromechanically operated lattice type legs,” explained a 2005 article in Drilling Conractor magazine.
The pipeline was set to begin construction in 2005 and would be the longest subsea pipeline in the world, costing an estimated $2.9 billion.
The service station chain was sold in 2006 to Reitangruppen.
Our ability to fully realise the potential of the NCS was strengthened through the merger with Hydro's oil and gas division on 1 October 2007, making us the world's largest offshore operator.
The Vice-Chair and former Minister of Petroleum and Energy Marit Arnstad served as chairperson until 1 April 2008, when Svein Rennemo took up the post on a permanent basis after resigning as the CEO of the Norwegian oil services company Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS).
Using the IBM PowerXCell™ 8i processor, originally developed for next-generation gaming consoles, IBM began work in 2008 with Repsol and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center in Spain to develop a new class of seismic technology.
The firm announced its intention to revert to the name Statoil ASA, and this was approved by the Annual General Meeting in May 2009.
In 2009, it was announced that the Norwegian government had reached its goal of obtaining 67% of Statoil’s share.
11 Norwegian Oil Directorate, Facts 2010 (Oslo, 2010), 90Google ScholarPubMed.
In 2010, Norway’s leading oil and gas company, Statoil, joined with IBM to pilot the IBM Integrated Information Framework to improve and optimize operational processes across the company.
In early June 2011, Statoil ASA has divested 24.1% shares in Gassled joint venture for NOK 17.35 billion ($3.25 billion) to Solveig Gas Norway AS and still has 5% shares in the partnership.
Type Chapter Energy sector reform and liberalization: case studies Authors Rangaswamy Vedavalli Journal Energy for Development Published online: 5 March 2012
2012), 14Google Scholar, http://www.regjeringen.no/upload/OED/Rapporter/Rapport_Rystad-Energy_Internasjonal-omsetning-fra-norske-oljeserviceselskapert.pdf.
In 2017, about 5,000 offshore oil and natural gas platforms operated in the Gulf around the clock — and creating the largest artificial reef system in the world.
In May 2018, our Annual General Meeting voted to change the company name to Equinor to better reflect our evolution and identity as a company for the generations to come.
For more information, contact bawells@aoghs.org. © 2020 Bruce A. Wells.
In 2022, Equinor celebrates 50 years.
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| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PetroTel | - | $11.5M | 50 | - |
| NewEdge | 2003 | $1.6M | 30 | 19 |
| Tce Inc. | - | $520,000 | 5 | 5 |
| Oliver Wyman | 1984 | $2.5B | 5,000 | 2 |
| MultiLing | 1988 | $7.7M | 100 | 1 |
| Chemonics | 1975 | $1.6B | 3,500 | - |
| Sherpa | 2001 | $5.4M | 350 | 61 |
| Logistics Management Institute | 1961 | $329.0M | 841 | 322 |
| Management system International | 1981 | $138.8M | 200 | - |
| Boston Consulting Group | 1963 | $7.5B | 22,000 | 230 |
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