Saga Petroleum
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Petroleum industry |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Defunct | 1999 |
| Fate | Acquired by Norsk Hydro; later merged into Statoil in 2007 |
| Headquarters | Norway |
Area served | Norway, British continental shelf, Angola, Indonesia, Libya, Namibia |
| Products | Oil and gas exploration and production |
Saga Petroleum ASA was a Norwegian upstream oil enterprise founded in 1972 and subsequently acquired by Norsk Hydro in 1999. It later merged into Statoil in 2007. As the sole entirely private oil firm in Norway, Saga held stakes in 60 petroleum licenses and directly managed 18 of them. The company maintained an international footprint with significant activities on the British continental shelf and smaller-scale operations in Angola, Indonesia, Libya, and Namibia.
History
Saga was created as part of a governmental strategy to establish three Norwegian oil companies, operating alongside the state-owned Statoil and the partly private Norsk Hydro to build national expertise in petroleum extraction.
Among its principal assets were the Snorre oil field along with the Tordi, Varg, and Vigdis fields. Shortly before being acquired, Saga expanded by acquiring Kuwait-based Santa Fe Exploration for US$1.23 billion.
Hydro purchase
Following initial acquisition interest from Elf Aquitaine, Norsk Hydro took over Saga amid financial difficulties triggered by declining oil prices, the expensive Santa Fe purchase, and losses from oil hedging. After the merger, several operations were transferred to Statoil, and British holdings were sold off.