SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A Brazilian court has ordered state-controlled oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA) to suspend the sale of its stake in an exploratory block to Norway’s Statoil ASA STL.OL after a union argued there should have been an open bidding process.

Petrobras, as the company is known, said in a securities filing on Monday that the deal for its stake in the BM-S-8 region known as the Carcara field was approved by regulators.

Half of the $2.5 billion in proceeds were due when the deal closed in November, and the company said it had used those funds to repay debts. Petrobras said it would take legal measures to defend its interests.

The sale of the 66 percent stake in the offshore prospect was the first major pre-salt asset sold as part of a divestment plan that now aims to raise $21 billion in two years for Petrobras to pay down its debts.

The National Federation of Oil Workers said it had filed the lawsuit because Petrobras, as a state-controlled enterprise, is required to hold an open bid for any asset sale.

A Statoil representative said the Norwegian firm would not comment on the matter because it had not received an official notice of the decision.</s>A Brazilian court orders Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) to suspend the sale of its stake in an exploratory block to Statoil (NYSE:STO) after the National Federation of Oil Workers argued that the state-controlled company is required to hold an open bid for any asset sale.

PBR says half of the $2.5B in proceeds were due when the deal for the stake in the Carcara field closed in November, and that it had used those funds to pay down debts.

The sale of the 66% stake in the offshore prospect was the first major pre-salt asset sold as part of PBR's divestment plan that seeks to raise $21B in two years to repay debts.</s>SAO PAULO, April 17 (Reuters) - A Brazilian court has ordered state-controlled oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA to suspend the sale of its stake in an exploratory block to Norway's Statoil ASA.

Petrobras, as the company is known, said in a securities filing on Monday that the deal for its stake in the BM-S-8 region known as the Campo de Carcara was approved by regulators and closed in November. Half of the $2.5 billion in proceeds have been used to repay debts, the company said, adding that it would take legal measures to defend its interests. (Reporting by Marta Nogueira Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Read the original article on Reuters. Copyright 2017. Follow Reuters on Twitter.</s>* Statoil has plenty of assets to develop - analysts

OSLO, Jan 10 Norwegian energy firm Statoil is considering major acquisitions that would dilute the state's stake, Bloomberg reported, a move that would face an uphill battle in parliament as the minority government would need some opposition support.

State-controlled Statoil is looking at potential targets, including Tullow Oil as it wants to reduce its focus on Norway and as the government is seeking to cut its stake from 67 percent to 51 percent, said the report, citing unnamed sources.

"I'm not sure such a proposal would get through parliament even if both the Conservatives and the Progress Party are positive on reducing the government's stake to 51 percent," said Joerund Rytman, trade and industry spokesman for the ruling Progress Party.

He pointed out that a deal would require backing from either of two centrist parties, the Liberals and the Christian Democrats, in addition to the government itself.

"Diluting the state's stake has not been a topic for discussion by parliament so far but I'm sure it will be as part of the upcoming white paper on ownership," Rytman said. "This is not something that will happen overnight."

Statoil and London-listed Tullow both declined to comment.

The government plans to present a white paper by the middle of the year on state ownership in firms such as Statoil, aluminium producer Norsk Hydro, bank DNB, and telecoms firm Telenor in what it said would be the first concrete move to cut stakes.

"There has been no decision on the sale of Statoil shares and we have no further comment on this speculation," the oil ministry said.

Although the government, which came to power in October, wants to cut its stake in Statoil, any deal would be time-consuming. It would need to first present its strategic approach in the white paper, then convince some opposition lawmakers to back its plans.

Statoil shares were up 3.2 percent at 1156 GMT and Tullow was up 6.6 percent, both outperforming a 1 percent rise in the European oil and gas index.

Tullow, whose market capitalisation is just under $13 billion, has been among the worst-performing stocks in Europe's oil and gas sector with its shares falling 38 percent over the past year.

Bernstein analyst Oswald Clint played down talk Tullow could be on Statoil's shopping list given the Norwegian firm's own success at discovering oil and gas fields in recent years.

"They aren't as in need of purchasing assets at this point as they were in the past decade so it feels a little bit unlikely to me," he said.

Statoil's hand is also limited in making very large acquisitions as its post-dividend free cash flow is negative because of high investments and the firm has been selling assets in recent years to raise cash.

"This is a continuous process for Statoil, which has a large department that works on acquisitions of both companies and assets," DNB Markets analyst Helge Andre Martinsen said.

"Historically they have been more interested in going for assets or companies with a very concentrated portfolio with a clean fit into their existing assets, rather than a large acquisition."</s>Nov 15 Norway's Statoil and its partners have decided to extend the lifetime of its oldest oil platform, Statfjord A, in the North Sea until 2020, the company said on Thursday.

The Statoil-operated field produced more than 4.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent since the production start in 1979, and the production in 2013 was 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

To keep the oil and gas flowing the partners in the license, which includes ExxonMobil and Centrica, plan to drill 10 new wells in the field in 2014, Statoil said.

The partners have recovered a record 66 percent of oil from the field so far, compared with the original plan of 40 percent and a global average of 35 percent.</s>* Statoil CEO says low-carbon best in the long run

OSLO, May 9 Norwegian oil company Statoil will face only muted criticism of its environmental record at an annual general meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, in a rare respite caused by a small shift towards green energy.

All major oil firms say they are working to protect the environment, but analysts say it is frequently hard to judge their sincerity. That makes the stridency of green activists' protests at AGMs one yardstick.

On Wednesday, the only critical environmental resolution will be by the Norwegian Grandparents' Climate Campaign, urging Statoil to halt oil and gas exploration worldwide and to pull out of projects such as tar sands in Canada.

Other groups such as the WWF conservation organisation and Greenpeace, which have submitted critical resolutions every year since at least 2010 that attract little support from shareholders, reckon state-controlled Statoil deserves a break.

"We do see a shift in Statoil that we wanted to acknowledge by not pestering them at this year's AGM," said Nina Jensen, head of WWF Norway.

"They have still got a huge way to go," she said, adding that organising resolutions and lobbying also takes a lot of time.

Among shifts in the past year, Statoil has set up a renewable energy area, backed by a $200 million venture capital fund. Last month, Statoil agreed to invest 1.2 billion euros ($1.37 billion) with E.ON to develop a wind farm off Germany.

"There's been a shift since Eldar Saetre took over as CEO" in February 2015, said Martin Norman of Greenpeace. "He's doing things that (former CEO) Helge Lund would never have done."

"They obviously reckon that we are working with some of the right things and I think so too," he told Reuters. "Over time, I believe that aiming for a low-carbon society is also the most profitable."

Halfdan Wiik, a retired librarian who chairs the Grandparents' Climate Campaign, said Statoil was not doing enough. "You have to keep on annoying them," he said. "We have heard nice words before."

In May 2015, Statoil joined European firms BG Group , BP, Eni, Royal Dutch Shell and France's Total in calling for a pricing system for carbon emissions.

A Paris summit on climate change in December set a goal of phasing out net greenhouse gas emissions by 2100. Statoil says its emissions per barrel of oil produced are among the lowest in the world.

Analysts say it is too early to say much about the financial implications of Statoil's shift.

"It remains to be seen. So far the renewable business in Statoil is a very small part of the overall picture," said Kjetil Bakken, an analyst at Carnegie. "My guess is that it obviously helps when it comes to the public image." ($1 = 0.8768 euros) (Reporting by Alister Doyle; Editing by Dale Hudson)</s>Oct 21 Norwegian energy firm Statoil said on Tuesday it had found up to 80 million barrels of recoverable oil in a prospect first drilled more than two decades ago and abandoned because the initial discovery was too small.

Statoil said it found between 30 million and 80 million barrels near its operating Grane field in the North Sea, well above the six million barrels estimated when the prospect was explored by Norsk Hydro in 1992.

New finds near existing fields are highly prized as they can be tied into existing operations without much expensive new infrastructure.

"These barrels are very profitable," Pareto Securities analyst Trond Omdal said. "You can use the existing installation and extend the life of it."

"Assuming $5 per barrel valuation would imply 0.2 to 0.5 crowns per share," he said.

Grane, which started producing in 2003, was Norway's third biggest oil producer last year with about 95,000 barrels per day, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

The find is also near another site Statoil discovered in 2013 that contains 18-33 million barrels of recoverable oil.

Statoil said it would consider tying the new discovery to the Grane field.

Statoil shares, battered in recent weeks from a falling oil prices, were 0.2 percent higher in early trade, trailing a 0.5 percent rise in the European oil and gas index.

Statoil owns 57 percent of the production licence for the new discovery. State holding firm Petoro has 30 percent and ExxonMobil has 13 percent. (Reporting by Balazs Koranyi and Joachim Dagenborg; Editing by Andrew Heavens)</s>* Says has the technology to drill safely in Arctic (Adds Greenpeace, Statoil quotes, detail)

OSLO, Nov 7 Norwegian oil firm Statoil will move deeper into the Arctic next year, planning to drill closer to the edge of winter sea ice than before and drawing fire from environmental groups who say it threatens a unique nature reserve.

State-controlled Statoil, which is already active in the Arctic with licences from Alaska and Russia to Norway, said it would drill two wells in the Hoop formation in the Barents Sea, hoping to find more oil near a recent discovery by Austrian energy firm OMV

It will also drill several more wells near its $15.5 billion Johan Castberg find in the Barents, convinced there is more oil there to make the project, with up to 600 million barrels, viable after a tax change force it to suspend development.

"We can operate there with today's technology. And we have 40 years of experience of drilling in northern Norway," Daniel Tuppen, its head of exploration for the Barents Sea said.

Oil companies are keen to drill in the Arctic because it could hold up to 90 billion barrels of oil, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. But firms scaled back exploration plans after the grounding of a Royal Dutch Shell drilling rig off Alaska last year caused a public uproar.

Greenpeace, which calls Statoil an "Arctic aggressor", said this was the company's most dangerous foray yet, threatening the nearby Bear Island, a wildlife sanctuary and occasionally home to polar bears.

"This is too far north to have acceptable oil exploration in the area," Truls Gulowsen, the head Of Greenpeace Norway said. "We estimate that it could be just 14 days for an oil spill there to reach the edge of the ice in wintertime.

Statoil already runs Europe's only liquefied natural gas plant in the Barents as the relatively warm waters of the Gulf Stream keep much of the sea ice free even as similar latitudes in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska see heavy ice cover.

The planned wells are more than 300 km offshore, further than typical projects in the North Sea and helicopter pilots, who would ferry workers to platforms, will often required to fly with night vision goggles as the area is covered in permanent darkness for much of the year, Statoil said.

"We understand the concerns of the green groups. But we spend a lot of time on that question. We feel very sure about the safety of this well," Tuppen said.

OMV found up to 164 million barrels of oil south of the Hoop area in September at its Wisting prospect, increasing exploration appetite in the region as an increase in the recoverable resource would reduce costs.

All in all, Statoil plans to participate in about 20-25 wells off the Norwegian coast next year, down from about 25-30 this year, with much of the decline coming from the end of an aggressive appraisal campaign on the Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea.

"We have had a lot of appraisal wells drilled in the Johan Sverdrup area this year. There are less appraisal wells to be drilled next year. This is the main reason (for the fall)," said Gro Haatvedt, the head of the firm's Norwegian exploration activities.0

Statoil expects to present a new resource estimate for Sverdrup later this year and based on preliminary figures, the North Sea field could hold up to 3.3 billion barrels of oil. (Writing by Balazs Koranyi, editing by William Hardy)</s>* Drilling results to be analysed by the year-end (Adds detail, quote)

Aug 18 Kremlin-controlled Rosneft said it is working with Norway's Statoil to search for oil and gas off Norway, partnering a Western company despite sanctions.

Rosneft and its head Igor Sechin were sanctioned by the West over Moscow's involvement in Ukraine.

The European Union banned equipment and technology exports for new projects in deep water, Arctic or shale oil for one year, a measure with limited effect so far but more damaging if extended for the longer term.

Norway, not a member of the EU, has joined the sanctions, which are not designed to halt joint projects but rather aim to starve Rosneft of foreign financing and access to modern technology.

A subsidiary of sanctions-hit Rosneft won a 20 percent participating interest in four fields within the Norwegian continental shelf in the Barents Sea during a licensing round last year.

Rosneft said that the companies expect to analyse the drilling results up until the end of this year.

The Arctic is seen as a leading source for future oil and gas production. Rosneft has also secured deals to jointly work with ExxonMobil, ENI and Statoil to develop Russian sections of the Arctic shelf.

"The start of these exploration operations marks an important milestone in developing the cooperation between Rosneft and Statoil," Rosneft said in a statement on Monday.

Earlier this month ExxonMobil began drilling in Russia's Arctic as part of the project with Rosneft

Rosneft also has an agreement with Norway's North Atlantic Drilling to drill for oil in Russian offshore Arctic.

Norway opened an offshore Arctic zone bordering Russia in the eastern Barents Sea to oil and gas exploration last year.

The area, as big as Switzerland, is estimated to hold about 1.9 billion barrels of oil equivalent, of which 15 percent is oil, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

Russia, the world's top oil producer with a daily average of around 10.5 million barrels per day, is counting on new hydrocarbon resources, including those in Arctic, to at least maintain production, a cornerstone of its budget revenues. (Reporting by Katya Golubkova and Vladimir Soldatkin, editing by David Evans and William Hardy)</s>Feb 19 Oil major Statoil met Norway's white-collar crimes police unit this week to explain payments made to Angola's state energy firm Sonangol, the Norwegian company and public officials said on Friday.

Statoil denied any wrongdoing, and the police said no criminal investigation had been launched.

The payments of 420 million Norwegian crowns ($48.9 million), made over a four-year period, were earmarked for the establishment of a research and technology centre, Oil Minister Tord Lien said in a letter to Norway's parliament.

Statoil said the payments were appropriate and part of the company's contractual obligation in Angola.

"The payments ... do not violate relevant anti-corruption legislation. This is not altered by the fact that there is little available information regarding the progress in setting up the research and technology centre," the company wrote in a letter to Norway's oil ministry.

Statoil said board Chairman Oeystein Loeseth and General Counsel Hans Henrik Klouman had met the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime on Tuesday.

"It's natural for the police to contact us to ask for information in a case like this," Statoil spokesman Baard Glad Pedersen told Reuters. "We've voluntarily and transparently informed them. But it's important to emphasise that they have not launched an investigation of the matter," he added.

The police confirmed it had asked Statoil to give it a briefing based on earlier media reports of the Angola payments.

"There is no ongoing investigation of this case. But it's natural, also as part of the our preventive activities, to have such contact with companies," the police unit said in a statement.

A Sonangol spokesman had no immediate comment.

Statoil has been present in Angola since 1991 where is produces about 200,000 barrels of oil per day, making it the biggest contributor to its portfolio outside of Norway.

The Norwegian government owns 67 percent of Statoil. ($1 = 8.5851 Norwegian crowns) (Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Stine Jacobsen; additional reporting by Herculano Coroado in Luanda; editing by Adrian Croft)
A Brazilian federal judge orders Petrobras to suspend the sale to Norway's Statoil of its stake in an offshore prospect, in response to the National Federation of Oil Workers petition there should have been an open bidding process for this transaction.