ANNUAL REPORT Page 1

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1 ANNUAL REPORT 2007 BP Norge AS carries out exploration and production of oil and gas from the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The company's head office is in Stavanger. Profit The petroleum revenues for 2007 totalled NOK 8,217 million. This is lower than last year s NOK 9,460 million, mainly due to lower production of crude oil than in Other operating income was NOK 181 million. This is a reduction from NOK 511 million in 2006, when we profited from the sale of licences. The operating profit amounted to NOK 5,526 million. Exclusive of other operating income, this was a reduction of 1,102 million from The reduction was largely due to lower income on account of lower production of crude oil. Net financial items represent a loss of NOK 71 million, compared to a loss of NOK 132 million in The improvement from 2006 is due to unrealised gains on currency hedging in connection with our major projects. This outweighs the higher interest costs and a currency loss on account of a lower dollar/krone ratio. The profit before tax is NOK 5,456 million, compared to NOK 6,826 million in The corresponding figures after tax are NOK 1,492 million and NOK 1,956 million. The balance sheet Assets increased from NOK 11,973 million in 2006 to NOK 13,475 million in This was due to higher investments, not least on account of the Skarv development and the new field centre on Valhall. The investments were financed through loans from group companies. The other balance sheet items show only minor changes due to normal operating conditions. At the end of the year, equity was NOK 1,442 million, up from NOK 1,251 million one year earlier. Production In 2007, BP Norge had production from the following fields: Valhall (ownership interest 28.09%), Ula (ownership interest 80%), Hod (ownership interest 25%), Tambar (ownership interest 55%) and Draugen (ownership interest 18.36%). In addition to that, Tambar Øst was proven and the discovery was immediately put into production during the third quarter. With the exception of Draugen, BP Norge is the operator of these fields. Our share of the production came to 55,600 barrels of oil equivalents a day compared with 67,200 in Production is falling on all the fields. Most of the reduction is due to Tambar with 3,900, Valhall with 3,700 and Ula with 2,500 barrels of oil equivalents a day. The reductions on Tambar, Ula and Valhall are mainly due to a naturally declining production curve on the fields. In addition, one well on Ula and three on Valhall had to be closed down because of a loss of pressure barriers in the wells. Exploration and development activity At the end of 2007, BP Norge had 13 licences and is the operator for ten of these. The activity is concentrated around our operated fields in the North Sea: Valhall/Hod, Ula/Tambar, the Skarv development in the Norwegian Sea and the Draugen field, which is operated by Norske Shell. Page 1

2 The Front End Engineering and Design for the Skarv field was completed in the first half of The licensees in the Skarv and Idun licences agreed on a basis for a unitisation agreement, and a Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) was submitted to the authorities at the end of June. The PDO was approved by the authorities in December 2007, representing a major milestone for BP Norge. Most of the major contracts had been awarded by year-end The activity in 2007 has already led to major investments in connection with the Skarv development. Production start-up for the field has been scheduled for the third quarter of BP Norge drilled one operated exploration/appraisal well on the Norwegian Shelf in 2007, the Tambar Øst well, which was tested during the summer. This resulted in a discovery which was immediately put into production via the Tambar platform in September. The well produces about seven thousand barrels of oil equivalents a day. Investments BP has invested considerable amounts in Norway during As in the previous year, the main activity concerned the new field centre on Valhall, drilling on Valhall, plus new, major modifications on the Ula and Tambar fields. The Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) of the new field centre on Valhall, including power from shore, was forwarded to the authorities during the first quarter of Our application was approved in June. This project is extremely complex, as it involves installation of a new platform as well as integration/modifications of the existing platforms. The detailed planning for the new platform is carried out in cooperation with Mustang in Houston, while the detailed planning of the modifications is carried out in cooperation with Fabricom in Stavanger. There will be a need for more bed capacity on Valhall in connection with the reconstruction of the existing facilities and installation of a new platform. We considered increasing the bed capacity in the existing accommodation complex, but this modification work would have required too many resources and still did not provide the necessary number of extra beds. It was therefore decided to hire a flotel to increase the bed capacity from January 2009 until the tie-in to the new production platform has been successfully completed. The construction work for the new field centre has begun in Norway (converter station at Lista), in the Netherlands (deck for new production platform) and in England (accommodation module). In 2008 there will be extensive activity on Valhall in connection with the lifting and installation of several new bridges. Only the drilling rig on the water injection platform was used for drilling on Valhall in As a result of a high level of activity and the bed capacity being needed for other activities, it was decided to implement a temporary stop in drilling from May to October. Two wells have been drilled, and three have been completed on the IP platform in the course of the year. Two wells that had been drilled on the Valhall North Flank platform in 2006, were also completed and came on stream in We have continued our work of developing a concept to enhance the recovery from the flank platforms on Valhall. A concept involving gas lift in the wells on both the Page 2

3 north and south flank platforms is being evaluated. A decision on whether to implement further detailed studies is expected in the summer of On the Ula field, preparations continued for the tie-in of production from the Blane field. This was completed in August, with start-up of the field in September. Production from Blane has been stable since, with no significant disruption of the production from Ula. A new pipeline was installed from the Tambar field to Ula during spring and was brought into operation in July as scheduled following a successful project completion. In September, Tambar s multiphase pump (ca 250 tonnes) and Ula s new gas processing module (ca 1050 tonnes) were lifted into place on the platforms. Both modules had been built at the Rosenberg Shipyard in Stavanger during the spring/summer of The projects look likely to be completed in the second half of 2008, about six months later than originally planned. On Ula we have replaced one of the water injection pumps. The pump was brought into operation in December The second water injection pump will be replaced and brought into operation during autumn The projects on Ula and Tambar will increase the recovery rate and position the fields for an extended lifetime. The prospects for Ula, with doubled gas capacity and greatly increased water injection capacity, are also good. The original lifespan for Ula at start-up in 1986 was estimated to be 12 years. We have already produced 10 years longer than originally expected. New investments and modernisation of the facilities will ensure a further extension of the life of the field. Many cabins on Ula were upgraded in 2007, and this will reduce the need for shared sleeping quarters in the future. The pilot project for water injection in one of the Hod wells was completed in 2006, but did not function satisfactorily. We are therefore looking at the option of installing a high pressure pump to increase the injection rate. The plan is to install the pump in The external environment BP Norge s environmental management is certified according to ISO We have received good feedback on our environmental management in connection with the annual review. Discharges to sea Produced water is reinjected on Valhall as well as Ula. However, we have struggled with the capacity on both Ula and on Valhall, where new injection wells will be needed at some point. Total discharges in 2007 rose a little from 2006, even though the quality of the produced water was very good in 2007 and well within the regulatory requirements (30 mg/litre). For both Valhall and Ula we came in under 8 mg/litre, compared to 27 mg/litre on Valhall and 22 mg/litre on Ula in As regards the use of chemicals, the company has phased out the most environmentally harmful substances. BP Norge is also working systematically to Page 3

4 reduce the use of less environmentally harmful chemicals to a minimum and to replace these with other products. Between Valhall and Ula, 84 substances were phased out in the course of Tambar and Hod, which are produced from Ula and Valhall respectively, have been included in the environmental figures for these fields. As regards accidental discharges, we had one major (approx. 10 barrels) discharge to sea in This was related to a leak in the produced water facility on the Ula field. Emissions to air Due to the higher activity level, emission of the greenhouse gases CO2 and methane have increased on Valhall and Ula compared to However, the emissions are below the maximum limits approved by the authorities. There has been no hydrocarbon emission greater than 0.1 kg/s to air in Safety In 2007 we had no incidents with a high potential for serious personal injury. This is very pleasing and represents a reduction from one incident in We continue to focus on avoiding major accidents through the implementation of BP s Integrity Management (IM) standard and increased focus on another BP standard, Control of Work. As regards injuries, we have unfortunately seen an increase in minor injuries in 2007, with a total of 18 minor injuries compared to eight in Although each injury was relatively slight and all those injured are back at work having suffered no permanent harm, three of these injuries led to an absence from work, compared to just one in Because of the increased injury rate we have reinforced our requirement for basic HSE training for all new employees and contractors going onto our installations. More than 2000 people took a basic course in safety culture. This is an increase from about 600 in 2006, and it seems to have led to good results towards the end of the year. Health and working environment In 2007, absence due to illness was 2.15% for the whole of BP Norge. The corresponding figure for 2006 was 2.07 %. The company has had low sick-leave figures for a number of years, also compared to companies with similar activities. The company continued its dedicated work to improve the employee's health in 2007, this year with an emphasis on ergonomic follow-up onshore as well as offshore. BP Norge has been an IA company since (This is a Norwegian government scheme enabling employees on sick leave to work part-time). We conducted a mini working environment survey in The results from this survey will be ready in the first quarter of Page 4

5 Organisation and manning Our organisation is continually changing and developing, and this has led to some changes at management level in It has also been decided to merge the Finance Department and Commercial Department, and this will be implemented in We have seen a tightening of the local employment market, with strong competition for the best-qualified candidates. This has led to 24 employees leaving us during Three people have retired. At the same time we continue the work of recruiting personnel for our two big projects, the new field centre on Valhall and the development of the Skarv field. Recruitment has thus been an important focus area in 2007 and will remain so in 2008 and A total of 56 people were recruited locally in 2007, and 13 of them were women. We also received 27 new employees from BP offices around the world. From the BP group outside Norway we have currently hired 88 people, ten of them women. Thirty-four locally employed people are currently working for the BP group elsewhere in the world. BP Norge has a highly qualified work force, and a large proportion of our employees have higher education. Out of 661 employees, including people from BP offices overseas, 48% are college or university graduates. Training and development is important to us, and more than NOK 23 million was invested in this area in Equal opportunity The company's personnel policy remains unchanged from last year. The company strives to ensure that both women and men can achieve job satisfaction and more easily combine work with family life. This is facilitated through such means as flexible working hours and day-care facilities. BP Norge is also clearly international, with employees from many different nations. All new employees and long-term contractors attend a course on BP s Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct lays down clear rules for how to behave to avoid any kind of discrimination or harassment. The proportion of women in BP Norge is still low, with 17% overall. We are working actively to recruit new female employees, and the percentage of women in our trainee programme (for MSc, MBA, Civ. Eng. and similar types of education) is 40%. The proportion of locally employed women in management is currently 12.5%. Of the platform managers, 33% are women. We are working actively to increase the proportion of women in management positions, e.g. through our leadership development programme and mentor scheme. The salary level is identical for women and men. Twelve people work part-time, and three of these are men. Social commitment BP Norge has a clear value base, which is reflected in its choice of partners. Key words in this connection are multicultural arenas, young culture bearers, environmental concern and development of expertise. For a number of years, BP has cooperated with the University of Oslo regarding a national mathematics website for children and teenagers between the ages of 6 and 18, their parents and teachers. This cooperation will continue throughout We have also signed an agreement to Page 5

6 sponsor the new Stavanger Concert Hall with NOK one million every year from 2007 until the building is completed in 2011, a total of NOK 5 million. During 2007, BP Norge spent NOK 2.8 million on its social commitment endeavours, such as supporting 214 employees and retirees financially in activities beneficial to the community. On several occasions fund-raising campaigns have been carried out among the staff for charity purposes. The company has supported these campaigns by matching the amounts raised by the employees. The annual fundraising campaign on TV is one such example. BP Norge has increased its commitment on the Helgeland coast in connection with the Skarv development, with particular emphasis on schools and education. The company's future development BP Norge is now facing an extremely active and exciting period with the implementation of two major developments. The projects on Skarv and Valhall have a total cost ceiling of NOK 45 billion and will ensure a significant production increase over the next 20 to 40 years. In addition to the major developments, we are also investing in activities on Ula that might lead to a doubling of that field s lifetime. Our continued good results in the areas of HSE and operational regularity ensure that further developments will be based on a sound operational environment. The accounts We do not know of any significant matters that could affect the assessment of the company's position as per 31 December 2007, or the profit for 2007, beyond what emerges from the above, and the accounts in general. The annual accounts have been prepared on the basis of the going concern assumption. Page 6

7 Allocation of the profit for the year The profits for BP Norge AS are allocated as follows: NOK Profit 1,492,142,000 Dividend 1,300,000,000 Transferred to other equity 192,142,000 On the Board of BP Norge AS Stavanger, 6 March 2008 O.Wattne (Chairman) G.G. Kielland C. I. Minos T.W. Garlick T.W Hughes T.M. Ege O.R. Olsen I. Haugeberg Page 7