STAVANGER, Norway (Reuters) - John Knight, Statoil's (OL:STL) executive vice-president for global strategy and business development, told the ONS oil conference in Stavanger on Monday:
** Expects more deals in the Norwegian oil sector like the merger between BP's (L:BP) Norwegian business and that of Norwegian oil firm Det norske (OL:DETNOR) and its top owner, holding company Aker (OL:AKER), earlier this year.
** Says: "Some large, traditional players of the last 50 years have already left ... Just this year we had one of the largest ( BP ) changing its business not by leaving but by merging into a smaller company and becoming a minority investor. I believe we will see more of this in the coming period."
** Says: "And I believe that the financial character and requirements of shareholders that sit behind this sort of change will be different to some of the larger players. I think it might mean we have to think about different ways of doing tax transfers and asset deals."
** Says: "We all have to think further about the financial structures for decommissioning and abandonment. We will have to think about more collaborative and transitional models for operatorship."
** Says: "I think we will see more complexity in contingency structures and in payments, when assets transfers and business transfers are made."