Statoil Boosts Research Funds for New Energy Solutions

Norwegian energy company Statoil plans to direct 25% of its research funds to new energy solutions such as offshore wind, carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen by 2020.

At its recent Capital Markets update, Statoil announced plans to build a material industrial position in profitable renewables and low-carbon solutions, which could potentially constitute 15-20% of the company’s investments by 2030, four times today’s share.

The research into new energy solutions and energy efficiency are expected to help the company fulfill this ambition.

The announcement is part of Statoil’s latest Climate Roadmap report which details the company’s targets for CO2 emission reductions and improved carbon intensity, energy efficiency, as well as growth in renewables and low carbon solutions.

The company has set a new target to reduce emissions from its operations by 3 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030, compared to 2017.

“Statoil provides energy to millions of people every day and we want to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and capture new opportunities. With this ambitious new roadmap, we demonstrate how we have fully embedded climate in our strategy and decision-making. The roadmap is also a platform for engaging all our employees and an invitation to suppliers, governments and others to work with us in realising our vision of shaping the future of energy,” said Bjørn Otto Sverdrup, Statoil’s senior vice president for sustainability.

In February 2016, Statoil established the Statoil Energy Ventures fund through which the Norwegian energy giant is investing up to USD 200 million in renewable energy projects by 2023.

Statoil currently holds a 40% share in the Sheringham Shoal wind farm in the UK, which has been in production since 2012. The company is also one of the owners of the Dudgeon offshore wind farm in the UK, which will come in production during 2017, and is developing the world’s first floating offshore wind farm – the Hywind Scotland Pilot Park in Scotland.

In 2016, Statoil acquired 50% of the Arkona offshore wind farm in Germany, which is scheduled to enter operation in 2019.

Statoil was also declared the provisional winner of the U.S. government’s wind lease sale offshore New York at the end of 2016.