State's Direct Financial Interest (SDFI) (Norwegian: Statens direkte økonomiske engasjement (SDØE)) is a portfolio of the Norwegian government's directly owned exploration and production licenses for petroleum and natural gas on the Norwegian continental shelf. The Norwegian government-owned company Petoro has managed the SDFI portfolio since 2001.

History and background

The Norwegian government claims ownership of all resources on and under the sea in the geographical area known as the Norwegian continental shelf. The Norwegian government awards production licences to cooperating companies to find and produce petroleum in specific areas.

The Norwegian government creates income from the petroleum sector through taxes and fees as well as itself being a participant in the industry. The Norwegian government initially participated in the industry through the creation and development of the state oil company Statoil. From 1973 to 1985 the government awarded Statoil 50% or more of Norway's petroleum development licenses. In the 1980s political discourse questioned this arrangement as Statoil's cash flow was becoming very large in relation to Norway's gross national product. The solution was splitting Statoil's ownership. SDFI was created on January 1, 1985, as a separate juridical entity managed by Statoil. Statoil's original portfolio was divided in two, with approximately 20% retained by Statoil itself, and the rest given to SDFI.

When Statoil was partially privatised in 2001 this solution was no longer desirable and a new state-owned management company Petoro was created to manage SDFI. The Norwegian government also reduced the size of SDFI by 20%, with 15% of the portfolio going to Statoil and 5% to Norsk Hydro.

Values in SDFI Petoro is registered as owner for the states portions with permissions 93 licences. This also gives portions of production from 36 fields.

The states portion of the total reserves on the Norwegian shelf are as of January 1, 2005 294 million Sm3 oil and 1005 mrd Sm3 natural gas. This represent 24% of the oil reserves and 41.6% of the natural gas reserves, and makes Petoro the largest licenceholder on the shelf. As of January 1, 2006 the value of SDFI was NOK 850 billion.

The states portion of the oil production on the shelf was in 2004 about 46.6 million Sm3, 14% of the states reserves at the beginning of 2004.

In 2016 the value of SDFI was estimated at 810 billion kroner.

Fuel volumes The table below lists all remaining field reserves as of January 1, 2005 where the state by Petoro has ownership in the production. The table shows percent ownership in the field, crude oil listed in million standard cubic meters MSm3 and in million barrels that belong to the state, gas in billion standard cubic meters GSm3, Natural gas liquids in million tonnes, Natural gas condensate in MSm3 and the total of all remaining petroleum in the field given in million oil equivalents (oe).

All numbers are from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

  Field SDFI's %share OilMSm3 Gasmil barrel GasGSm3 NGLMT Cond.MSm3 SumMToe1 Troll0.56 43.12271.22632.0217.25 -1.51706.412 Ormen Lange0.36 0.000.00136.850.008.06144.913 Åsgard0.35 11.6173.0368.9411.7212.32115.144 Heidrun0.58 43.91276.1919.311.510.0066.095 Snøhvit0.30 0.000.0048.061.535.3756.346 Oseberg0.34 10.9969.1327.791.110.0040.897 Snorre0.30 33.90213.230.390.210.0034.698 Grane0.30 33.75212.290.000.000.0033.759 Visund0.30 4.7429.8115.662.010.0024.2210 Kvitebjørn0.30 5.3133.4015.390.660.0021.9511 Norne0.54 13.9988.005.511.130.0021.6512 Gullfaks Sør0.30 7.0244.169.121.020.0018.0813 Oseberg Sør0.34 12.6779.692.990.000.0015.6614 Draugen0.48 13.5084.920.290.430.0014.6115 Kristin0.19 5.6535.546.241.300.0014.3616 Ekofisk0.05 8.9156.042.940.160.0012.1517 Gullfaks0.30 11.2570.760.390.090.0011.8118 Tune0.40 0.644.036.360.000.007.0019 Vigdis0.30 5.5835.100.300.210.006.2820 Oseberg Øst0.34 5.3133.400.240.000.005.5521 Tordis0.30 4.2926.980.570.120.005.0922 Veslefrikk0.37 4.0325.350.190.000.004.2223 Eldfisk0.05 2.3814.970.780.050.003.2624 Statfjord Nord0.30 2.6716.790.270.090.003.1125 Urd0.25 2.5516.040.020.000.002.5726 Statfjord Øst0.30 1.8311.510.420.150.002.5427 Skirne0.30 0.422.641.800.000.002.2228 Huldra0.32 0.291.821.340.000.001.6329 Vargfeltet0.30 1.358.490.000.000.001.3530 Njord0.07 0.583.650.650.110.001.4431 Sygna0.30 0.966.040.000.000.000.9632 Brage0.14 0.543.400.110.000.000.6533 Embla0.05 0.231.450.070.010.000.3234 Tor0.04 0.171.070.030.000.000.2035 Jotun0.03 0.181.130.000.000.000.1836 Heimdal0.20 0.161.010.000.000.000.16294.481852.281005.0440.8724.241401.41

See also Constitutional economics Political economy Petroleum exploration in the Arctic Natural resources of the Arctic

References

External links Norwegian Oil Directorate Petoro