/EINPresswire.com/ -- STAVANGER, NORWAY--(Marketwired - Apr 24, 2017) - Statoil ASA (OSLO:STL) ("Statoil") announced today that it beneficially owns 22,805,892 Common Shares ("Shares") of International Petroleum Corporation ("IPC") (TSX:IPCO)(NASDAQ OMX: IPCO), representing approximately 20.1% of the issued and outstanding Shares.

Statoil is a shareholder of Lundin Petroleum AB ("Lundin") and received its Shares on April 24, 2017 in connection with a shareholder-approved reorganization of Lundin involving the transfer of its assets in Malaysia, France and the Netherlands into IPC and the distribution of all of the Shares, on a pro rata basis, to the shareholders of Lundin. Continuing to hold Shares in IPC is non-core to Statoil given IPC's size and geography, and as previously announced, Statoil intends to sell all of its Shares.

IPC has announced that Lundin Petroleum BV ("LPBV"), a subsidiary of IPC resident in the Netherlands, is making an offer to all of the shareholders of IPC to purchase up to U.S.$100 million of Shares at a price of C$4.77 per Share (the "Offer"). Statoil intends to tender all of its Shares to the Offer. Furthermore, Statoil has agreed to sell any residual Shares owned by Statoil that are not acquired by LPBV in the Offer to Nemesia S.á.r.l. ("Nemesia"), subject to satisfaction of certain conditions. Following these transactions, if completed, Statoil will not own any Shares.

This press release is being issued pursuant to the requirements of National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues of the Canadian Securities Administrators. A copy of the report to be filed by Statoil in connection with the transactions described herein will be available on IPC's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com, and can also be obtained by contacting Annette Frøyland Hoff at +47 91175206.

The address of Statoil is Forusbeen 35, 4035 Stavanger, Norway. The address of IPC is 885 West Georgia Street, Suite 2000, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6C 3E8.

About Statoil

Statoil is an international energy company primarily engaged in oil and gas exploration and production activities, organised under the laws of Norway and subject to the provisions of the Norwegian Public Limited Liability Companies Act. In addition to being the leading operator on the Norwegian continental shelf, Statoil has also substantial international activities and is present in several of the most important oil and gas provinces in the world. Our activities span operations in more than 30 countries and we employ approximately 20,500 employees worldwide. Our access to crude oil in the form of equity, governmental and third party volumes makes Statoil a large seller of crude oil, and Statoil is the second-largest supplier of natural gas to the European market. Processing and refining are also part of our operations.

For more information, please visit www.statoil.com.