CAPITAL: Stockholm
MONETARY UNIT: Krona
REFINING CAPACITY: 427,000 b/cd
OIL PRODUCTION: 0
OIL RESERVES: 0
GAS RESERVES: 0
Norway`s Statoil and ICA AB, a Sweden-based food retailer, won approval from European Union regulators to create a joint venture to own and operate Statoil`s gasoline stations in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
The European Commission said the venture, equally owned by Statoil and ICA with $325 million in equity, wouldn`t threaten fair competition in European markets.
The new company would sell groceries, fast food, and gasoline at 1,500 stations that had a combined turnover of 25 billion kroner in 1998, according to Statoil. The two companies said they hoped to exploit their brand names and widen the range of grocery-related products.
Separately, Sweden`s Lycksele Energi AB let a $16 million contract to Foster Wheeler Corp.`s Finland unit, Foster Wheeler Energia Oy, for the supply of a 47-Mw biofueled circulating fluidized-bed (CFB) boiler for Lycksele Energi`s cogeneration plant at Lycksele.
Biofuels, such as wood waste, would be used to fire the new plant. The project was slated for completion in early 2001.
