The value of the State's Direct Financial Interest (SDFI) in the petroleum activities is estimated to NOK 875 billion as of 1 January 2006. This is according to a valuation carried out by Wood Mackenzie for the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

Comparing with the value by the start of 2005, the value of SDFI has increased by NOK 277 billion. Revised price estimates accounts for NOK 259 billion of the value change.

Thus, the value increase of the underlying asset base excluding the impact of changes to the price assumptions is NOK 18 billion. According to Wood Mackenzie the increase in value is mainly caused by changes in production profiles, changes in reserves and cost estimates. Troll, Draugen, Åsgard and Gullfaks contributed mostly to the increase of value in the SDFI-portpolio in 2005.

-The valuation report discloses the very large values of the state's directly owned oil and gas resources and how changes in price estimates heavily influence these values, says Mr. Odd Roger Enoksen, the Minister of Petroleum and Energy inNorway. Naturally I am very pleased with the numbers, however there is a challenging piece of work remaining to get these volumes on stream, the minister underscores.

Petoro is the business manager of the SDFI on behalf of the state. The value estimation of the SDFI-portfolio is an element of the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy's follow-up of SDFI and Petoro.

The Wood Mackenzie report in pdf format