Saga Petroleum ASA was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

upstream Upstream may refer to: * Upstream (bioprocess) * ''Upstream'' (film), a 1927 film by John Ford * Upstream (networking) * ''Upstream'' (newspaper), a newspaper covering the oil and gas industry * Upstream (petroleum industry) * Upstream (software ...

petroleum company The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The larges ...

established in 1972 that was acquired by

Norsk Hydro Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around the world an ...

in 1999. In October 2007 it was made part of

Statoil Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian state owned enterprise, state-owned multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger. It is primarily a petroleum company, petroleum company, operating in 36 countries with ad ...

. The company was the only fully private oil company in Norway. It had partial ownership of 60 oil field licenses and was operator of 18. Saga had an international profile, including major operations on the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

as well as minor operations in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

and

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

History

Saga Petroleum was founded in 1972 as a private initiative based on a political wish to have three Norwegian oil companies. The company started up at the same time as

and was part of the three-company model with one state owned company (Statoil), one semi-private company (Norsk Hydro) and one fully private company (Saga). The three Norwegian oil companies were to ensure that petroleum competence was established in Norway. Among the largest fields Saga operated were the

Snorre oil field Snorre is an oil and gas field in the Tampen area in the southern part of the Norwegian Sea. The sea depth in the area is . Snorre has been operational since August 1992. It was the first field developed by Saga Petroleum. A ''Plateosaurus'' ...

and the Tordi, Varg and Vigdis oil fields. Not long before the merger Saga had acquired the

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

based Santa Fe Exploration for US$1.23 billion.

Hydro purchase

Originally

Elf Aquitaine Elf Aquitaine is a French brand of oils and other motor products (such as brake fluids) for automobiles and trucks. Elf is a former petroleum company which merged with TotalFina to form "TotalFinaElf". The new company changed its name to Total in ...

tried to purchase Saga, but eventually Norsk Hydro acquired it. Saga's financial position had become weak due to the low oil price and the badly timed acquisition of Santa Fe, and oil hedging.Norsk Hydro's Takeover of Saga Petroleum in 1999 – Tittelside
/ref> After the merger with Hydro some operating responsibilities were transferred to Statoil and all British operations were sold.

References

{{Authority control Oil companies of Norway Defunct energy companies of Norway Defunct oil companies Non-renewable resource companies established in 1972 Companies formerly listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange Norsk Hydro Companies based in Bærum Energy companies established in 1972 1972 establishments in Norway 1999 disestablishments in Norway Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 1999 Energy companies disestablished in 1999 1999 mergers and acquisitions