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Statoil VP: "We're here for the long haul"

A Norwegian oil company has become a big player in the Bakken.

Statoil purchased Brigham Exploration’s Bakken assets about a year ago. Now, it’s producing 50-thousand barrels per day, and is currently running 14 to 16 drilling rigs.

Torstein Hole is Statoil’s senior vice president for development and production in North America. He says Statoil is in it for the long run.

"In the future, we will level out at 14 to 16 rigs going forward," said Hole. "With our current acreage position, that is a good balance for us between the expected production growth that we foresee, but also the need we have for developing the production methods and technology. We could have ramped-up to 20 to 25 rigs, but then we would have produced the acreage much earlier -- probably before we can get the benefit from all the technology development we are studying now and optimizing for the future."

Hole says Statoil is very interested in enhanced recovery techniques. And he says the company is learning about fracking.  He also says North Dakota’s oil patch is facing similar challenges to what Norway faced when its oil economy boomed. Hole says virtually overnight, some cities near the North Sea oil development saw an explosive growth in population. He says he sees the same thing in western North Dakota.

"It's clear to me that there will be some challenges in this build-out period," said Hole. "But the experience from Stavanger and many other cities in Norway that have gone through the same development is that it's fully possible to cope with it, if you have close cooperation and an open attitude to finding solutions between the companies, local authorities and government at the state and federal level."

Hole spoke at the Great Plains and Empower ND Energy Expo, held at Bismarck State College.

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