UPDATE: Credit Suisse Initiates on Statoil On Drill-Bit Success

In a report published Wednesday, Credit Suisse analyst Thomas Adolff initiated a Neutral rating of Statoil STO and initiated a price target of NKr 155.00. In the report, Credit Suisse says "Statoil is turning resource rich, owing to its success with the drill-bit over the past few years. Its forward exploration programme also looks attractive. This should allow Statoil to continue to high-grade its portfolio and make better project choices over time. At this stage, however, it still has the highest share of declining shorter-cycle fields, which keeps capital intensity high, while there are potential risks to its gas business. This indicates that it will continue to lag its peers in FCF generation, and that the inflection point will not be reached until 2019, on our estimates." Statoil closed on Wednesday at NKr 141.30.