Norwegian company says exploration activities in Chukchi Sea couldn’t compete with projects elsewhere.

Norway’s Statoil said Tuesday it had decided to exit Alaska, echoing a recent move by Royal Dutch Shell to drop the high-cost Arctic frontier area.

Explaining its decision, Statoil said its exploration activities in the Chukchi Sea couldn’t compete with projects elsewhere.

“Solid work has been carried out, but given the current outlook we could not support continued efforts to mature these opportunities,” said Statoil’s head of exploration, Tim Dodson.

The Norwegian oil and gas producer, which entered Alaska in February 2008, said it would close its office in Anchorage following recent exploration results in neighboring leases, and exit all its operations in the Chukchi Sea.

Pareto Securities AS is among banks targeting debt funds and private-equity firms to buy oil rigs at firesale prices to hold until demand for offshore-drilling rebounds, according to people familiar with the matter.

Norwegian investment banks are sounding out interest in special-purpose investment vehicles that would buy rigs from distressed companies, mothball them and sell them when the market picks up, said the people, who declined to be identified because the plans are private.

Drillers may be forced to sell rigs at a discount as they struggle to repay debt amid a more than 50% fall in oil prices since August 2014. Almost a third of rigs are without a contract this week after oil producers canceled or renegotiated contracts as a glut of new-builds come online, according to a Pareto note on Nov. 12.

“There are now more funds interested in investing in rigs as values have fallen significantly,” said Nigel Thomas, a partner at Watson Farley & Williams in London, a law firm that specializes in the shipping and offshore industries. “The risk is that prices will bump along the bottom for quite a long time.”

Pareto CEO Ole Henrik Bjoerge declined to comment on the investment vehicles.

“I expect some of the banks, which sit on a large amount of rig debt in distress or which may come in distress, will try to push for asset sales,” said Eirik Rohmesmo, a credit analyst at Clarksons Platou Securities AS in Oslo. “Funds alone would not be able to run a fleet and they will need an industrial operator to manage it.”

Chartering rates for the most advanced equipment have dropped to as little as $250,000 a day from as much as $650,000, according to the Pareto note.

“It’s hard to calculate the price of a rig these days, because you don’t know how long you’ll remain without cash flow,” said Janne Kvernland, an analyst at Nordea Markets in Oslo. “So it’s anybody’s guess what a rig is actually worth.”

The Troll A platform rocks like a boat as North Sea waves pound its four gigantic concrete legs, but monitors inside the control room show a steady flow of natural gas continues unabated — enough to meet the needs of 10 million homes in Europe.

Norway is on track for record gas production this year after Statoil ASA put an end to technical issues that limited Troll’s capacity. And deep within the windswept jumble of pipes and machinery that top the platform 65 kilometers (40 miles) off the Nordic nation’s coast, two newly installed compressors stand ready to maintain the field’s unequaled capacity well into the next decade.

“These compressors provide an extra muscle, they strengthen the Norwegian gas machine,” Grete Haaland, senior vice president for asset management at Statoil’s marketing, midstream and processing business unit, said in a presentation on the Troll platform Wednesday. “They increase Troll’s ability to deliver more gas in the short and long term. That’s extremely important for us.”

STAVANGER, Norway – A new study will look into the benefits and disadvantages of unmanned wellhead platforms, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said Friday. The regulator wants such platforms to be considered more often, as an alternative to subsea tie-backs, in connection with development decisions.

“The main argument in favor of unmanned wellhead platforms as a concept, is that this could be an efficient development solution in terms of both cost and production. In fact, it is just as functional and robust as a subsea development, and it is also more accessible for inspection and maintenance,” Niels Erik Hald, principal engineer in the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, said.

An unmanned wellhead platform is a facility with a fixed substructure installed on the seabed, with dry wellheads located on the platform deck. The concept is an alternative to subsea wells where the wellheads are placed on the seabed. There are various types of unmanned wellhead platforms—from simple facilities to more advanced solutions including e.g. process equipment. Some can be entered from vessels, while others have bridges or helicopter decks.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has commissioned the study with the objective of gaining further knowledge about the different types of unmanned wellhead platforms. The plan is for the study, to be performed by Rambøll Oil & Gas, to be submitted to the authorities towards the end of December of this year.