Net income fell to 2.01 billion kroner ($285 million), or 0.63 kroner a share, from a 6.15 billion kroner, or 1.93 kroner, a year earlier, the Stavanger-based company said today. Sales rose 3% to 150.7 billion kroner.

The company beat analysts’ expectations for a loss of 409 million kroner, in part as rising output helped counter some of the 54% plunge in benchmark Brent North Sea crude, according to a Bloomberg report.

Supermajor Anglo-Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, posted its first quarterly loss in 10 years, while UK supermajor BP had its first loss in seven years, on inventory losses and weaker oil prices.

“The net figure and production, both internationally and in Norway, were better than expected as new fields came into production,” said Trond Omdal, an analyst with Arctic Securities in Oslo. “Although oil prices were lower, underlying production is positive.”

Shares fell 0.4 krone, or 0.3%, to 119.9 kroner as of 12:55 p.m. in Oslo. The stock has dropped 23% in the past year, valuing the company at 382 billion kroner.

StatoilHydro got an average $51 a barrel for its oil in the quarter, down 41% from a year earlier. It fetched 2.99 kroner for every cubic meter of gas, up 66%.

Entitlement production rose to 1.857 million barrels of oil equivalent a day from 1.818 million barrels a year earlier. That beat an estimate of 1.785 million barrels, Omdal said.

Entitlement production doesn’t include production-sharing agreements, or PSAs, the company has in countries such as Iran and Azerbaijan. Output on an equity basis, including PSAs, rose to 2.023 million barrels a day from 1.958 million a day.

The results “were influenced by good operations and record high production,” boss Helge Lund said. “But they were also impacted by lower oil prices and the strengthening of the dollar relative to the krone, which impacted financial results and then our tax rate.”

The company had a net financial charge of 12.1 billion kroner and taxes were 23.7 billion kroner, a rate of more than 90%. StatoilHydro’s tax rate usually averages 70%, finance head Eldar Saetre said.

StatoilHydro’s exploration and production is 80% of earnings, so inventory changes are “minuscule” in comparison, Jason Kenney, an Edinburgh-based analyst at ING Wholesale Banking, said. The 19% gain of the dollar against the krone also helped buoy the company’s inventories.

“In manufacturing and marketing there was a significant trading gain of 3.9 billion kroner in the quarter, which made the downstream result look quite spectacular versus the forecast,” Kenney said.

The company proposed a 7.25-krone dividend, beating the 7-kroner a share forecast by analysts, Omdal said. The company paid a dividend of 8.50 kroner in 2007.

The company maintained a forecast for capital spending, excluding acquisitions, of $13.5 billion this year. That compares with $12.5 billion last year, or about $16 billion including acquisitions. StatoilHydro’s reserve replacement ratio fell to 34% last year from 86% in 2007.

“Lower-than-expected net financial items, because of less of a currency effect, kept StatoilHydro from reporting a loss,” Christian Yggeseth, an analyst with RS Platou in Oslo said. “What’s disappointing is the low reserve replacement ratio, which is below what its peers have reported.”

StatoilHydro’s Lund said the drop was because “we haven’t had as many new projects sanctioned” and that company needs to bring the ratio over 1. The company boosted its reserve base by 3.5 billion barrels in last year, bringing the total resource base to 20 billion barrels of oil equivalents, he said.

“This we believe we can develop into profitable production,” he said. “The basis for both short-term and the long-term growth for StatoilHydro has been significantly strengthened in the last years.”

Published: 17 February 2009 16:43 GMT  | Last updated: 17 February 2009 16:43 GMT