By MICHAEL EBOH with Agency Report

Statoil has put on hold its planned drilling of oil in the Alaskan Artic until 2020, according to Bill Maloney, the company’s Head of North America operations.

He said the company is taking a break in Alaska and is not anticipating any production from the Artic in its production prognoses.

He said the company is targeting the production of 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalents per day by 2020, up some 500,000 barrels a day.

Statoil’s CFO, Torgrim Reitan had disclosed that half a million barrels per day will come from Statoil’s production in North America.

Mr Maloney says now none of this will be Alaska-originated.

According to the company, it does not wish to rush into drilling in waters off Alaska following Shell’s recent decision to postpone drilling for oil in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off the US state’s coast, adding that this decision was made after of a series of accidents and near accidents last year.

The company’s 2012 drilling campaign was delayed because of problems with equipment on the rigs. Two wells were planned drilled last year, but the company had to abandon these plans since the time-window in waters is relatively short.

Moreover, the year ended with drilling rig Kulluk grounding in a storm while being towed ashore for the winter. The US government is investigating the incident, and has sent two rigs to Asia for repairs. “I think we can all agree that it’s wise to learn from each other. It’s is better to let time work for, rather than against you,” exploration director in Statoil, Tim Dodson said.