State-controlled StatoilHydro ASA has recently told the press that a 37 percent rise in second-quarter profit Friday because of an increase in oil and gas prices and higher production.
The company, based in the western Norwegian city of Stavanger, said profit for the April to June period came to 18.77 billion kroner ($3.7 billion), up sharply [...]

Aluminum and energy group Norsk Hydro ASA told the press that its profit dropped 87 percent in the second quarter on falling sales and higher costs.Net profit was 786 million kroner ($155 million), down from 5.95 billion kroner in the same quarter last year.
Sales dropped 4 percent to 23.98 billion kroner ($4.72 billion) from 25.04 [...]

Oil giants ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp. are set to withdraw from their joint venture projects in Venezuela’s Orinoco basin.
The two companies refused to sign deals Tuesday that would see the Venezuelan government taking majority stakes in their Orinoco projects.
Four other oil majors, U.S.-based Chevron Corp.; Britain’s BP Plc; France’s Total SA; and Norway’s Statoil [...]

A new state-controlled offshore oil giant made up of Norway’s two key petroleum companies should be called StatoilHydro to end an ongoing debate over its name, the company boards recommended Wednesday.
In December, state-controlled Statoil ASA said it was acquiring the oil and gas operations of smaller rival Norsk Hydro ASA in a $30 billion deal [...]

Statoil and Hydro have completed a value verification process following the agreement between the companies’ boards of directors to merge Hydro’s oil and gas activities with Statoil.
The intention of the review has been to verify the information exchanged between the parties prior to the conclusion of the agreement.
In connection with the publicising of the merger [...]

Norsk Hydro ASA said Monday it will write down the value of its stake in the Front Runner field in the Gulf of Mexico by US$462 million (euro358 million) after taxes due to lower production and higher costs than expected.
The Oslo-based oil and light metals group owns a 25 percent stake in the deepwater field, [...]

The oil ministry on Monday offered oil companies a record 48 exploration licenses for 85 offshore blocks, most near existing fields that Norway hopes will stimulate future production.
Norway, the world’s third largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia and Russia, began offering unexplored blocks near existing, or mature, finds in 2003 in what it calls Awards [...]

Venezuelan lawmakers said Monday they would give President Hugo Chavez special powers to make changes to the country’s oil, gas and electricity industries by presidential decree.
National Assembly President Cilia Flores said lawmakers loyal to Chavez would approve an “enabling law” allowing the leader to pass measures by decree for 18 months in the “energy sphere” [...]

Vast petroleum reserves in the Arctic are a key source of world energy, but development must also protect the fragile cold-weather environment and curb greenhouse gases, Norway’s oil minister said Monday.
“If the U.S. Geological Survey is right, 25 percent of the world’s undiscovered petroleum reserves could be found in the Arctic. Thus, the Arctic region [...]

A second Chinese oil company is close to signing a memorandum of understanding to invest $3.6 billion in an Iranian gas field amid U.S. pressure for Beijing to scrap another similar deal, a news report said Friday.
State-owned China National Petroleum Corp. would invest in Iran’s South Pars gas field under the agreement, Dow Jones Newswires [...]