Investment came to NOK 34.4 billion, up by no less than 34 per cent from 2012. Capital spending on development in 2013 totalled NOK 11 billion, and embraced such new projects as Valemon, Martin Linge, fast-track developments, subsea compression on Åsgard and new compressors on Troll. Investment in production drilling amounted to NOK 16 billion, reflecting a record number of mobile drilling units on SDFI fields. Including capitalised exploration costs, total investment for 2013 was NOK 35.4 billion.
The cost of operating fields, pipelines and land-based facilities was NOK 18.3 billion, up by 11 per cent from 2012. This rise reflects higher environmental taxes and reclassification of tax costs for gas operations related to Statoil Natural Gas LLC (SNG). Expenses related to base operation and maintenance of the fields remained on a par with 2012. Exploration-related costs amounted to NOK 3.3 billion, of which NOK 1 billion was capitalised as investment related to possible and confirmed discoveries, and NOK 2.3 billion was expensed as dry wells. Correspondingly, exploration expenses totalled NOK 1.8 billion in 2012, of which NOK 1.1 billion was expensed. A total of 23 exploration wells were completed during 2013, 12 more than the year before. Eleven of these wells represented new discoveries, which contained recoverable reserves of 101-195 million barrels of oil and 57-94 million boe of gas. By comparison, 470-580 million boe were proven in 2012.