Statoil, the Norwegian energy company, will boost its R&D funding with 27 per cent in 2012, the company said on 10 January. The company will spend 2.8bn kroner (€364m) this year.
Four main areas of technology have been singled out to drive Statoil’s R&D expansion, which will stretch until 2020 the company says. These are: seismic imaging and interpretation; reservoir characterisation and recovery; efficient well construction; and the construction of a “subsea” factory able to compress natural gas on the seafloor by 2020.
The hope is that the focussed effort will add value and boost effectiveness while cutting costs, said Margareth Øvrum, executive vice president for technology, projects and drilling in a statement.
Plans to expand the company’s R&D centre in Trondheim with an Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) centre were also announced.