HOUSTON: Statoil ASA, which built its oil and gas expertise in Norway's offshore waters, is stretching its land legs in the US, where it seeks to partake of the shale bounty. Like many international oil and gas companies, Norway's Statoil has poured billions into joint ventures with some of the North American independents that in the last decade figured out how to profitably unlock the oil and gas trapped in shale, bankrolling their drilling while hoping to learn some of their techniques. Statoil plans to run its own US shale operation in South Texas's Eagle Ford Shale by early 2013, said the company's executive vice president for North America, Bill Maloney. "We have aspirations and definite plans to become an operator in the onshore ourselves," he said.
