Statoil's Wintershall sale: does Russia play into it?

Norwegian energy firm Statoil has sold a string of assets to BASF subsidiary Wintershall for $1.3bn (£800m) on Friday, freeing cash to fund developments that have drained its cash flow in recent years.

Statoil will sell stakes in four fields in Norway - exiting two completely - and will divest part of its 25 billion crown (£2.3bn) Polarled pipeline, which will transport gas from new Arctic fields in the Norwegian Sea, it said in a statement.

The company said the accounting gain was expected to be between $700m and $900m, and would release around $1.8bn of capital expenditure until the end of 2020. It has sold around $20bn worth of assets since 2010, including its retail chain and producing fields, to fund the development of new discoveries, including the giant Johan Sverdrup field, which contains up to 2.9 billion barrels of oil equivalents and could cost $18bn to develop.

Arne Sigve Nylund, vice-president at Statoil, discussed the sale and Russia's impact on Bloomberg television.

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