Norway's oil giant priced after squabbles

Infighting among PM Stoltenberg's ministers upset the Statoil pricing process

After last minute squabbles ahead of a scheduled pre-privatisation announcement, Norwegian government ministers have finally agreed on how much the country's state oil and gas company is worth.

The verdict is that Statoil should be valued at between 145bn and 166bn Norwegian kroner ($15.75bn-$18bn, £11bn-£12.7bn).

But this range is higher than the original suggestions of the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

The range was raised after a last minute intervention on Friday night by the Ministry of Finance, just before a press conference where the price was to be announced.

Stock market listing

The Norwegian government wants to sell a 17.5-23% stake in the oil giant when it is launched on the New York and the Oslo stock exchanges on 18 June.

Petroleum minister Olav Akselsen faced a last minute challenge

The stock will cost between 66 kroner and 76 kroner. Retail investors will be offered a 3 kroner discount.

The final price will be set on 17 June, and only then will Norway decide exactly how large a chunk of the company will be floated.

Observers believe stock market traders will take the initial valuation by the petroleum ministry into account when they decide whether the launch price makes for a good investment.

At its lowest point, the petroleum ministry's price range indicates that Statoil is worth about half a billion dollars less than the finance ministry suggests.

Criticism

The last minute squabbles on Friday night are being described as "unprofessional" by the Norwegian media.

Statoil boss Olav Fjell is not getting involved in the squabbles

The newspaper Aftenposten quoted sources close to the argument who said that the finance ministry wanted to raise the minimum price charged for the company.

And to get its way, the ministry threatened to block proposals by the petroleum ministry with regards to the size of the stake to be sold.

The finance ministry's intervention seemed to be carefully timed, coming only hours before a deadline for a formal listings application needed to be sent to the New York Stock Exchange.

Observers quoted by Aftenposten said the infighting within Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg's minority government resulted, in part, from the finance ministry's thirst for revenge after it had lost out to the petroleum department and Statoil in a previous conflict.

A fifth for sale

The government's mandate allows it to sell 15-25% of Statoil, though the likely stake will be between 17.5% and 20%, with an extra 3% being released under certain market conditions.

Finance minister Karl Eirik Schjott-Pedersen flexed his muscles

The emphasis on the size of the stake to be sold off is important:

It needs to be of a certain size to ensure liquidity, or efficient trading of the stock.

Besides, the size of the stake will indicate to investors the extent to which the government wants to control the company after privatisation.

This will affect the stock's value since it will indicate whether Statoil will want to enter into alliances with other oil companies, some of whom may be buyers of the share.

Restructuring

Norway is the second biggest exporter of oil after Saudi Arabia with a production output of about 3.2 million barrels per day.

The company aims to have sold 24% of the assets it held when a massive restructuring started in 1998 by the end of this year.

Costs should by then have come down by 20% and its workforce will have been reduced by 10% during that period.