Emissions of "red" environmentally-hazardous chemicals from Statoil operations were cut by 91 per cent over the three years to 1999.
Bringing the total to just 1.3 tonnes, this means the group has come a long way towards fulfilling the Norwegian government's 1999 action plan on reducing the use of chemicals which pose threats to health and the environment.
A number of measures have been initiated to achieve the goal of zero emissions with lasting environmental damage.
The results achieved in this area are welcomed by Kåre Salte, manager for the environmental technology and impact assessment sector.
"We're working continuously with chemical suppliers and our technical staff to identify new and better products to replace the hazardous substances," he notes.
Staff engineer Andreas Østebrøt in the same sector emphasises that more than 95 per cent of the chemicals used and discharged by Statoil during its drilling operations are on the "green" list.
Maintained by the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT), this catalogue specifies chemicals without environmentally-harmful effects.
And Statoil's chemicals expertise is being applied to monitoring and reducing its use of hazardous substances even further, says Mr Salte.