The Moscow Times
OSLO — Statoil, one of the most successful oil explorers in recent years, sees offshore Angolan and Russian shale as the industry’s next big plays and considers U.S. shale oil overhyped, its exploration chief Tim Dodson said.
The firm, which has expanded from its traditional North Sea base to all continents over the past decade, also expects to spend heavily on exploring in Brazil, Tanzania and the Arctic Barents Sea, possibly maintaining its record-high exploration budget, Dodson said in an interview.
Statoil, already a top offshore producer, needs new discoveries as it aims to lift production by a quarter to more than 2.5 million barrels a day this decade and diversify its portfolio, still dominated by North Sea assets.
“I am very excited about [the Russian] shale opportunity,” Dodson said. “There is a huge, huge upside if it works,” he said, referring to the firm’s preliminary deal with Rosneft in June to explore for shale in the Samara region in western Siberia’s Volga-Ural basin.