Norwegian oil and gas producer StatoilHydro posted a lower-than-forecast fourth-quarter operating profit today but said it was well equipped to handle the global economic downturn.
Europe's sixth-largest energy company by market capitalisation affirmed its production and capital expenditure guidance and said unit production costs would likely fall this year.
It delivered a 2 per cent increase in oil and gas output to 1.86 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, above analysts' average forecast of 1.8 million boed in a Reuters poll.
Operating profit grew 22.5 per cent to 37.8 billion Norwegian crowns ($5.50 billion) in October-December, lagging a 38.9 billion average forecast in a Reuters poll of 22 analysts. Adjusted operating profit slipped to 43.7 billion from 45.1 billion a year earlier.
StatoilHydro beat the average forecast on the net level, earning 2.04 billion crowns - down 67 per cent year-on-year - but ahead of expectations of a net loss of 52 million crowns due to hefty foreign debt financing costs.
Shares in StatoilHydro were down 0.8 per cent to 119.40 crowns by 8.03am, in line with the wider DJ Stoxx oil and gas index, giving it a market value of around $55.4 billion.
"When the economy normalises, we may quickly return to a situation where it is challenging to meet (global) energy demand," chief executive Helge Lund told a news conference.
"This will be guiding our industry approach."
Lund said that StatoilHydro's "strong balance sheet an active cost management" would allow it to pursue its long-term ambitions of maximising output from its Norwegian operations and growing internationally.
"StatoilHydro is well positioned to manage through the global downturn," Lund said. StatoilHydro said it would propose a 2008 dividend of 7.25 crowns per share, affirming its long-term strategy to pay out 45-50 percent of annual profits to shareholders.
Reuters