If investors want to find bargains today in the energy sector

                                      
  If investors want
to find bargains today in the energy sector

Concerns about this company's production growth prospects have kept a lid on
the stock price as more dynamic companies like Whiting ,Brigham Exploration, and
Comparex have raced by. If investors want to find bargains today in the energy
sector. The question, though, is whether Wall Street has made too much of
Statoil's near-term growth woes and whether patient investors might be looking
at a bargain in these share trading.

Unfortunately, during that same period the company saw a 23% increase in the
average price for petroleum liquids and a 17% increase in natural gas prices.
What that highlights is that once again production was a significant issue.
Total production in the quarter fell more than 5% to about 1.95 billion barrels
of oil equivalent per day, with lifted volumes of liquids. Wall Street was not
expecting very much from State oil in the fourth quarter, but they got even less

than that. Of course sure short tips, "not expecting very much" is a relative
judgment State oil still produced almost 17% revenue growth and 19% operating
profit growth.

A
bad quarter is not all that significant to long-term investors, but the
company's near-term guidance may prove more problematic. Analysts were worried
about the company's production prospects and the company basically confirmed
those fears,  projecting that 2011 production levels would be even with
2010 or perhaps slightly lower. There are some legitimate reasons for this
guidance, including the shutdowns in the Gulf of Mexico and some "operator" in
Angola, but the fact remains that an energy company's value is predicated on
finding oil and gas and getting it out of the ground.

While the near-term production outlook is not strong, the company has a lot
of projects and prospects that could boost production in a few years' time.
What's more, the company is one of the best and most experienced  in harsh

and demanding conditions operator stock trading tips meaning that as energy
deposits become more difficult to access, Statoil may have a worthwhile
competitive advantage - and does so with rather good margins per barrel. Bad as
that all is, there may yet be arguments for holding Statoil.



The dilemma for investors is price. On forward-looking measures like, State oil
seems quite undervalued relative to many other E&P companies. Then again, on
metrics like price/book or EV/reserves, it is harder to make the argument that
Statoil is desperately cheap. There seems to be a definite balancing act going
on between Statoil's operational quality, its future prospects, and its
near-term production outlook. Apache is a time-tested
stock market tips, but one that is
reliant on locations like the Gulf of Mexico and Egypt that are presently
problematic. Petrol brass has enormous reserves to tap, but investors cannot get
over their lingering fears that the Brazilian government will not do right by
shareholders.

Statoil is worth at least a look but with the caveat that it might not really
pay off for a few years. Aggressive investors may want to pair Statoil up with 
while patient investors may want to buy-and-hold with a multi-year horizon. The
real crux here is production - if Statoil can deliver acceptable production
growth and recharge those reserves at economical prices, stock market, this
could work over time.