By Ron Bousso and Nerijus Adomaitis
LONDON/OSLO, May 4 (Reuters) - Norway's Statoilsaid it aims to cut its carbon footprint more aggressively asmeasures to reduce global warming could reduce the value of itsassets, leaving some of its reserves stranded underground.
The possibility that large quantities of the world's oilwill never be developed due to the increase of renewable energyand the electrification of transport has been a growing worryfor investors in the oil sector.
Statoil, Norway's largest company, started stress testingits portfolio of oil and gas assets against global energyscenarios set out by the International Energy Agency (IEA) atshareholders' request in 2015.
The IEA's Sustainable Development Scenario analyses thelikely impact of energy policies by 2040.
"The net present value (NPV) (of Statoil's portfolio) willbe reduced by 13 percent ... under the IEA (SustainableDevelopment) Scenario," Statoil's Chief Executive Eldar Saetretold Reuters. However, he said that would still leave Statoil'sportfolio with a "massive" NPV.
The IEA says its scenario is aligned with the ParisAgreement goals to keep global warming from exceeding 2 degreesCelsius.
Saetre was speaking on the sidelines of a Statoilpresentation to investors in London, where the company announcedplans to reduce emissions from some of its new fields to 3 kg ofCO2 per barrel of oil equivalents (boe), less than a fifth ofthe global average.
Its carbon intensity at its offshore fields stood at 9 kgper boe in 2017, compared to a global average of 17 kg per boe.
Statoil said optimisation and efficiency improvements havesubstantially strengthened its portfolio, which includes thegiant Johan Sverdrup oilfield off Norway.
The field will be powered from shore instead of generatingelectricity by offshore gas turbines, the main source ofemissions on the Norwegian continental shelf.
Statoil reduced its emissions from 11 kg of CO2 per boe in2014, partly by divesting its carbon-intensive oil sandoperations in Canada in 2016.
Last year, it said it would no longer explore for heavy oil,which requires more energy and produces more emissions to liftbarrels from the ground.
However, the company still operates two heavy oilfields inBrazil and Britain, and is working with Rosneft todevelop a high-viscous field in Russia.
"Despite the negative impact on NPV in the 'sustainabledevelopment scenario', we see very limited stranding of assets,"Statoil said in its latest sustainability report.
Royal Dutch Shell said last month that it sawlittle risk of having "stranded assets" in its portfolio becausefour-fifths of the oil major's current oil and gas reserveswould be extracted before 2030 anyway.(Editing by Susan Fenton)
