An agreement to sell Statoil Energy Services Inc, the marketing arm of Statoil Energy in the USA, has been reached by Statoil with Amerada Hess Corporation.
Statoil Energy Services is responsible for sales of natural gas and electricity to industrial customers in a number of states on the US east coast. It also has considerable experience in and infrastructure related to deliveries of natural gas and electricity.
Amerada Hess will take over Statoil Energy Services at 31 March. The price paid is being kept confidential.
Statoil sold the exploration and production operations in Statoil Energy at the beginning of the year. This and the present sale follow the goup's announcement last October that it intended to divest the whole of its US subsidiary.
The remaining requirement is to find a buyer for Statoil Energy's power station division. A mid-March deadline has been set for bids from potetial buyers.
These divestments form part of Statoil's current plans to restructure its business operations.
Acquiring Statoil Energy Services will represent a substantial expansion in marketing capacity for Amerada Hess in the eastern USA.
This company is an international oil and gas enterprise with its head office in New York and 1998 revenues of USD 6.6 billion. It has exploration and production operations off Norway, where it first became involved with the country's first offshore licensing round in 1965.
Further information from: John Ove Lindøe, tel: +47 51 99 68 81