Timeline

1972 -1977

Start-up years

Management of and in Equinor: Equinor and the state

Winning agreement on a state oil company

Statoil’s creation story might have looked very different if the non-socialist coalition...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Control of Statfjord and the key blocks

Becoming a fully integrated oil company was Statoil’s goal from the very start. Securing...

Management of and in Equinor: Equinor and the state

Den norske stats oljeselskap is established

Today’s Equinor was actually born on 18 September 1972, with the statutory general...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Arve Johnsen – a visionary pioneer

Arve Johnsen served as Statoil’s first CEO from 1972 to 1988. He was a clear-speaking...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Statfjord awarded

Norway was in a comfortable negotiating position when licensing its “Brent” blocks in...

Economy and society

Co-owner of oil pipeline

CEO Arve Johnsen attended his first board meeting in the state oil company on 5 December...

Management of and in Equinor: Equinor and the state

Clarifying Statoil’s governance

The big question in 1973-74 was what role Statoil should play and how that should be...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Expertise was the key

The Storting (parliament) had resolved that a state oil company was to be established, and...

Economy and society

The first oil crisis

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) resolved to use oil as a...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Start of something big

Geological chance dictates the presence of petroleum on the Norwegian continental shelf...

Economy and society

Contending over capital

Set to become Norway’s most lucrative company, Statoil started with an equity of just...

Management of and in Equinor: Equinor and the state

Securing the state’s royalty oil

Intensive efforts were made during Statoil’s early years by chair Jens Christian Hauge...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Statex

Statoil expanded swiftly and in many directions, but not without problems and...

In Norway and the world: Processing and sale

Statoil’s route into petrochemicals

Getting involved at an early stage in processing natural gas liquids (NGL) from the...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Statfjord discovered

Geologists from operator Mobil performed a veritable war dance of pure joy on the drill...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

The “Statoil article”

Statoil’s articles of association were not approved by the Storting (parliament) until...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

The state oil company’s first public face

Arve Johnsen had a lot to get to grips with when he took office at the age of 38 as the...

Management of and in Equinor: Equinor and the state

A short-lived board

Jens Christian Hauge’s uncompromising stance towards the minister of industry and the...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Public affairs department in key position

The terms of the licence meant that Statoil became responsible for all information to the...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Getting the oil hunt organised

Statoil secured the Ross Rig drilling unit on a long-term charter in 1974, initiating a...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Little gender equality in the 1970s

During its early years, Statoil was a male-dominated workplace. The first women appointed...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Construction of Statfjord A

The construction of Statfjord A included two major industrial assignments: construction of...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Storting confirms Statoil’s holding

The Storting (parliament) voted on 9 June 1975 that Statoil should retain its 50 per cent...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Rigged for success

Ross Rig was the first drilling unit secured by Statoil as an operator. Through its work,...

In Norway and the world: Processing and sale

Oil distribution under debate

What should Norwegian petroleum policy look like? Did an oil nation need a state-owned oil...

In Norway and the world: Processing and sale

From dependence to master in its own house

Norway’s oil history was still young and unformed in the mid-1970s. One question was...

Management of and in Equinor: Equinor and the state

Keeping parliament informed

Development of the Statfjord field from discovery to production was the first oil project...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

Offshore loading on Statfjord

The huge quantities of oil and gas in Statfjord had to be brought ashore. Negotiations on...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Statoil’s first discovery – Tommeliten Alpha 1/9-1

Arve Johnsen, Statoil’s first CEO, had big ambitions of covering everything from...

Management of and in Equinor: Equinor and the state

Letter from the NPD

Preparations for building the Statfjord B platform were well under way in the autumn of...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Quiet in the ranks on land

Several different occupational groups in Statoil unionised in 1977. A positive attitude to...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Discovering Gullfaks: Hiccups and Blowouts

Great expectations had been aroused by the “golden block” on Norway’s continental...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

How Statoil landed the golden block

Norway’s block 34/10 was so attractive that it had been nicknamed the “golden...

See all articles from 1972-1977

1978 -1988

On its own two feet - an integrated oil company

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Concrete’s dominance – the Gullfaks case

Choosing Condeep concrete platforms for Gullfaks, where Statoil had an 85 per cent holding...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

Diving research to make the impossible possible

Opening the Statpipe gas pipeline in October 1985 was a major technological achievement,...

Management of and in Equinor: Equinor and the state

The Volvo agreement – almost Volvoil

The deal was done. Put simply, Norway was to pay about NOK 1 billion, Swedish carmaker...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Discovering Troll – Flathead, Leif and Lars

Geologists normally hunt for subtle changes in their seismic data. These might represent...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Foremost at Forus

The first construction stage of Statoil’s office building at Forus outside Stavanger was...

In Norway and the world: International

Entry to China

A first step into the wider world was taken when Statoil CEO Arve Johnsen boarded a flight...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Northward bound – with high hopes

Expectations of finding oil were great when Norway’s central and northern continental...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

Norway’s most profitable invention

All self-respecting petroleum engineers have heard of the Olga computer programme, which...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Offshore employers come together

Norway was in economic trouble in 1977 as a result of interlinked oil and shipping crises....

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Unions and strikes offshore

Different rules and much turbulence were key features of worker-employer relations during...

In Norway and the world: International

Queen’s visit

On May 8, 1981, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Statoil on Forus. The...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

Statpipe – an achievement

Landing Norwegian petroleum in Norway was the sixth of 10 oil policy “commandments”...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

Diving on Statpipe

The whole 880 kilometres of the Statpipe gas pipeline system was laid on the Norwegian...

In Norway and the world: International

Americans look to Norwegian gas

A key target for the USA during the Cold War was to weaken the Soviet Union’s military...

Economy and society

Disputing the Statfjord operatorship

Statfjord offered a unique opportunity for a young and ambitious Statoil to gain...

In Norway and the world: Processing and sale

Victory over Mongstad expansion

Statoil wanted to expand the Mongstad refinery in order to take more of the crude oil from...

Management of and in Equinor: Equinor and the state

Curbing the cash flow

The Storting (parliament) may have voted to establish Statoil in 1972, but an underlying...

In Norway and the world: International

The gas pipeline system – arteries for exports

A network of underwater pipelines running from the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS)...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Equality and diversity in Equinor

Work on equality at Statoil, now Equinor, has many features in common with action in this...

In Norway and the world: Processing and sale

Expansion in Scandinavia

Statoil was starting to secure substantial crude oil supplies during the 1980s, which...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

West Vanguard blowout

A message that West Vanguard had suffered a blowout and would be evacuated was picked up...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Battle over operating Troll

Troll was not only a gas giant, but also contained big oil reserves. The question of what...

In Norway and the world: International

Troll gas to the continent

The Troll field ranked as one of the world’s largest offshore gas deposits when...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

Tommeliten – valuable subsea experience

The Tommeliten project might not have been Statoil’s biggest, but was highly efficient....

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Gullfaks – The first “Norwegian” field

They say Norwegians who claim to express themselves best in English speak neither tongue...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Diverless subsea wells on Gullfaks

The first producing wells on Gullfaks were not on a platform, but stood on the seabed. But...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Gullfaks – the big qualifying test

Drilling unit Ross Rig spudded the first well for operator Statoil in block 34/10 west of...

Economy and society

The Statfjord money machine

Norway’s largest oil field has been both a prestige project and a gilt-edged revenue...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

Tommeliten problems

Although the Tommeliten project reached its goals, it was not without problems along the...

Economy and society

USA – the world’s largest energy market

As a major consumer of oil and gas, the USA was one of the first places where Statoil...

In Norway and the world: International

A tasty Danish – but not lasting

Statoil wanted to expand abroad, and an attractive target lay immediately to the south. It...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Arve Johnsen’s departure

Huge cost overruns on a refinery expansion and new crude oil terminal at Mongstad north of...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Harald Norvik – a purposeful leader

Harald Norvik took over from Arve Johnsen to become Statoil’s second CEO from 1988 to...

In Norway and the world: Processing and sale

From Norol to Statoil

Norol was created in 1976 as an independent state-owned distribution company for petroleum...

In Norway and the world: Processing and sale

When an iceberg grew into a mong

In April 1988, it became clear that expansion and modernisation of Statoil’s Mongstad...

See all articles from 1978-1988

1989 -2000

Further north, down and out - first internationalisation

In Norway and the world: International

Wooing the state oil companies

International expansion at Statoil in the 1980s and 1990s was initially directed at...

In Norway and the world: International

Ten years in Thailand

Statoil’s board resolved in December 1989 to establish a subsidiary in Thailand with an...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Veslefrikk – recycled floater

Oil prices fell to their lowest level for more than a decade in the autumn of 1986....

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

Troll on land

Seven years after the 1979 discovery of Troll, operator Norske Shell submitted plans for...

Economy and society

The toughest strike

Norway’s offshore workers had great expectations of the 1990 collective pay settlement....

In Norway and the world: International

Learning the ropes from BP

A strategic alliance with British Petroleum (BP) was announced by Statoil in late August...

In Norway and the world: International

Joint venture with BP in Vietnam

Part of Statoils 1990 collaboration agreement with BP involved buying into the British...

In Norway and the world: International

Angola – war, corruption and 11 billion dollar

Civil war and corruption were also making their mark on Angola, further south along...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

Statfjord satellites with fruitful industrial collaboration

Many good things can come out of a crisis. The oil price slump in 1986 meant the oil...

In Norway and the world: International

Making good in the Caspian

The Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991 and Azerbaijan’s emergence as an independent...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Sleipner A GBS – lost and replaced

A shock wave ploughed literally across Stavanger and figuratively through all of Statoil...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Pioneering production in the north

Norne was developed with the first production ship on the Norwegian continental shelf...

In Norway and the world: International

Gas from Sleipner East to Europe

The Sleipner East gas story is a dramatic one. A negotiating fiasco with the British was...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

Bolts from the blue

Three of four Xmas trees were in place over the pre-drilled wells on Sleipner East by the...

Economy and society

Fuelling the Olympic flame

The 1994 winter Olympics at Lillehammer north of Oslo was acclaimed as a sporting and...

Economy and society

EEA restricts Statoil’s opportunities

The European Economic Area (EEA) agreement, which came into force on 1 January 1994,...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

Norwegian-Brazilian subsea collaboration

Both similarities and differences between Norway and Brazil as oil nations have emerged...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Troll A – giant move from fjord to field

If there is one occasion when you are going to check the weather forecast with particular...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Heidrun and the fight over the “mead”

Heidrun was the goat in Norse mythology who supplied the gods and their warriors in...

In Norway and the world: International

Irish gas with sour taste

An interest in Ireland’s Corrib gas field was secured by Statoil through the first Irish...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

How large is a troll?

Most Norwegians know that Troll is large. They may also be aware that this field ranks as...

In Norway and the world: International

24 years with Venezuelan oil sands

Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, mainly in the form of oil sands. Statoil...

In Norway and the world: International

Lufeng – first foreign operatorship

A Chinese state oil company opened large areas off China to foreign companies in the late...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

Technology development in Statoil

Statoil/Equinor has always had a reputation for being far advanced in developing and...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

The power of initiative

A speech in early 1999 and a holiday cabin visit in 2006 might not seem revolutionary. But...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

Gas to food – bioprotein at Tjeldbergodden

Could part of the solution to global food shortages lie in gas from Heidrun and a...

Management of and in Equinor: Equinor and the state

Acquiring a slice of Saga

Statoil and Saga Petroleum were both established in 1972, but had very different starting...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Olav Fjell – with a banking background

Statoil acquired its third CEO in September 1999, when Olav Fjell took office. The biggest...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

From telex to Teams

Formidable progress has been made in office technology by Statoil/Equinor since the...

In Norway and the world: International

Equinor’s route to the wider world

A desire to grow and become more like the international oil companies emerged early on in...

In Norway and the world: Processing and sale

Refined swap deal

Statoil and Shell each owned a stake from 2000-14 in the other’s refinery at Mongstad in...

See all articles from 1989-2000

2001 -2006

Statoil on the stock exchange

In Norway and the world: International

Mexico – brief affair in denationalised waters

Statoil opened a representative office in Mexico during 2001. This lay geographically...

In Norway and the world: International

Going ultradeep off Brazil

Statoil secured its first offshore exploration licence in Brazil during 2001, after state...

Economy and society

Petoro – the anonymous, little giant

Equinor’s sprawling head office at Forus is a well-known landmark for most Stavanger...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Åsgard – a technological quantum leap

In Norse mythology, Åsgard (or Asgard) was the home of the gods in the centre of world,...

Management of and in Equinor: Equinor and the state

Rival as model

Statoil and Norsk Hydro had a lot in common as the trend-setting domestic oil companies in...

Management of and in Equinor: Equinor and the state

Background for the partial privatisation

Statoil’s partial privatisation ranks as one of the key events in its history. But it is...

Management of and in Equinor: Equinor and the state

The road to the stock market

Having prepared the ground for a partial privatisation over several years, CEO Harald...

In Norway and the world: International

International growth strategy under Olav Fjell

Partial privatisation in 2001 was important for allowing Statoil to make a stronger...

Management of and in Equinor: Equinor and the state

Gassco – background, creation and function

Gassco has served as operator for gas transport from the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS)...

In Norway and the world: International

Statoil’s Iranian adventure

The ending of Statoil’s international collaboration with BP in 1999 sparked a search for...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Inge K. Hansen – from listing to merger soundings

Chief financial officer (CFO) Inge K. Hansen was appointed acting CEO of Statoil on 23...

In Norway and the world: International

Rollercoaster in the Gulf of Mexico

Statoil gained its first office in Texan oil metropolis Houston during 1995. This was the...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Helge Lund – background and appointment

Almost year passed after Olav Fjell’s departure as CEO in September 2003 until Helge...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Helge Lund – commitment to growth

Helge Lund led Statoil through major changes from 2004 to 2014. Against the background of...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Blowout on Snorre A – enormous potential for major accident

An incident viewed as one of the most serious to hit the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS)...

In Norway and the world: International

Gas on hold in Tanzania

The Ocean Rig Poseidon drillship found large quantities of gas off Tanzania in 2012, five...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

Kristin – high pressure and temperature

The Kristin gas/condensate field lies in the Norwegian Sea, 16 kilometres south-west of...

In Norway and the world: International

Long wooing for access to Russia

Vladimir Putin’s emergence as Russian president in 1999 initially meant that the country...

Technology and the environment: Climate and the environment

Unrewarding power-from-gas efforts

Processing oil and gas from the Norwegian continental shelf at home, rather than simply...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Music 303 metres down

The Troll A platform is renowned for being the tallest structure ever moved by humans. Yet...

See all articles from 2001-2006

2007 -2014

Merger and further international commitment

Technology and the environment: Climate and the environment

Ambition for a “moon landing”

Lofty visions are a traditional component of the New Year address given by Norway’s...

In Norway and the world: International

In Canada’s deep forests

Canada is a vast country with rich natural resources where Statoil wanted to invest and...

In Norway and the world: International

Off Canada’s east coast

Before Statoil merged with Norsk Hydro’s oil and energy division, both companies ranked...

In Norway and the world: International

Unplumbed depths in Indonesia

Statoil secured its first deepwater licences off Indonesia in 2007, and another six four...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Snøhvit – the “invisible” gas field

Snøhvit was the first field brought on stream in the Barents Sea. With long, dark winters...

In Norway and the world: International

Turmoil and tenacity in Libya

Equinor’s engagement in and turbulent history with Libya has its origins in the 1990s....

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

Seabed separator

The vision of an “underwater factory” was launched by Statoil in 2012. It believed...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Merger with Hydro – an expected surprise

The dream of amalgamating Statoil with Norsk Hydro’s oil and energy division was not...

In Norway and the world: International

The UK – not just any foreign country

How far is it possible to claim that Britain and the British have played a special role in...

In Norway and the world: International

Petroleum production in the UK

Producing oil and gas from the UK continental shelf (UKCS) represents a key part of...

Technology and the environment: Climate and the environment

Wind power off the UK

Equinor’s biggest offshore wind power investment is in the UK – the largest market for...

In Norway and the world: International

Up and down with US shale

Statoil farmed into American licences on land from 2008 in order to participate in the...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Discovering Johan Sverdrup – the last giant?

Many can lay claim to finding oil – the driller who guides the bit thousands of metres...

In Norway and the world: International

Intermezzo in Mesopotamia

Iraq has some of the world’s largest petroleum deposits, making it an attractive country...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Towards a broader energy enterprise – organisational aspects

Amending a company’s basic structure provides an indication of its willingness and...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Discovering Johan Castberg

A sense of “do or die” prevailed at Statoil’s Harstad exploration department during...

In Norway and the world: International

Exploration interest in Kenya

Statoil’s involvement with Kenya began in 2012, at a time when the country had just...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

IT services from India

Many Statoil/Equinor employees will undoubtedly associate India with IT support –...

In Norway and the world: International

Oil and the environment in Australia

Statoil established a presence in Australia during its most expansive period, when Helge...

In Norway and the world: Processing and sale

From Statoil to Circle K

A process was launched by Statoil in 2010 to dispose of all its service stations across...

In Norway and the world: International

Exploration in New Zealand

Permission to explore for oil and gas off New Zealand was secured by Statoil in 2013. This...

In Norway and the world: International

Suriname in South America

Bill Maloney, Statoil’s exploration manager for the USA and South America, was not...

In Norway and the world: International

Gas from high-risk Algeria

BP sold interests in Algerian gas fields to Statoil in 2003 to reduce its exposure in the...

In Norway and the world: International

South Korea – a key fabricator

Statoil opened an office in South Korea in 2014 to follow up major construction projects...

In Norway and the world: International

Exploration licence in Myanmar

As part of an aggressive international exploration strategy while Helge Lund was CEO,...

Economy and society

Step towards savings

The petroleum industry has historically enjoyed higher profit margins than most other...

See all articles from 2007-2014

2015 -2022

Oil crisis, climate crisis - new course

In Norway and the world: International

Nicaragua – virgin and volatile

Nicaragua is thought to have one of the largest proportions of untouched oil reserves in...

In Norway and the world: International

Seismic surveying in South Africa

A first South African licence was secured by Statoil in 2015, when the company was...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Eldar Sætre – continuity in the company

Nobody has more represented continuity combined with great strategic influence in...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

In the driving seat for subsea compression

A big commitment to underwater technology was made in Norway during the early 2000s....

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

New life for Frigg gas field?

Equinor took over the operatorship of Norway’s share of Frigg in 2016. Straddling the...

In Norway and the world: International

Oil exploration in Uruguay

Farming into Uruguayan exploration licences by Statoil in 2016 made this South American...

Technology and the environment: Climate and the environment

From fracking to renewables in Argentina

Equinor established itself in Argentina during 2017, and opened an office in Buenos Aires,...

In Norway and the world: Processing and sale

From service stations to exploration and production

Statoil’s name and former logo, with an orange droplet on a blue background, was a...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Potential major accident on Songa Endurance

A well control incident on the Songa Endurance drilling rig during 15 October 2016 was the...

Technology and the environment: Climate and the environment

Potential for offshore wind power in Japan

As an advanced society with a big demand for energy, Japan stood out at an early stage as...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

From Statoil to Equinor

Statoil changed its name to Equinor on 16 May 2018. That marked a strategic shift,...

Technology and the environment: Climate and the environment

Powering Johan Sverdrup from shore

Johan Sverdrup lies on the Utsira High in the Norwegian North Sea, about 150 kilometres...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Aasta Hansteen – small discovery with big pipeline

Aasta Hansteen lies in the northernmost Norwegian Sea and is being produced from the...

Technology and the environment: Climate and the environment

Offshore wind power in South Korea

Low oil prices in 2014-18 halted new orders to South Korean yards from Equinor for a time....

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Developing Johan Sverdrup

A 2019 estimate placed Johan Sverdrup as the third largest oil field on the Norwegian...

Technology and the environment: Climate and the environment

Climate roadmap

Heatwaves, droughts, fires, extreme rainfall, floods and landslides – the challenges...

Technology and the environment: Climate and the environment

Hazardous fires at onshore plants

The quality of maintenance work at Equinor was called into question in 2020 following...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Anders Opedal – between industry tradition and energy transition

Equinor’s CEO in its 50th anniversary years has close ties to the long threads in modern...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Multiphase approach to Troll

Producing a giant like Troll, which contains large quantities of both oil and gas, is no...

Technology and the environment: Technology and research

World-record well on Troll

Norway’s Troll field holds several records. Not only is Troll A the world’s tallest...

Technology and the environment: Climate and the environment

Wind energy supplements gas-fired power on Tampen

The Hywind Tampen project on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) ranks as the world’s...

In Norway and the world: Norwegian continental shelf

Bounded and boundless

Statoil/Equinor has operated over years in several types of boundary areas on the...

Economy and society

Five decades as an oil and energy city

Stavanger could celebrate the 50th anniversary of securing the official role as Norway’s...

Management of and in Equinor: Equinor and the state

Equinor’s company history in brief

Den norske stats oljeselskap a.s was incorporated on 18 September 1972. Its name was...

Management of and in Equinor: Organisation and leadership

Equinor at 50

On 18 September 2022, 50 years had passed since the first general meeting of Den norske...

See all articles from 2015-2022