Statfjord is the name

Norwegian Petroleum Museum

The discovery in production licence 037 was declared commercial on 29 August 1974, when the licensees expressed their willingness to develop and produce the field. Both the declaration and the name of the discovery were published in the same press release.

— The sign on Statfjord A. Photo: Odd Noreger/Norwegian Petroleum Museum

With its 50 per cent holding in the Norwegian licence, Statoil insisted that the field should be named in accordance with the principles it had adopted. These specified that each field name should begin with “Stat” and have a Norwegian landscape term as its second component. (This policy was abandoned at the next crossroad in favour of Gullfaks.)

Oslo daily VG reported: “The background for choosing ‘stat’ is that both Statoil and Statex[REMOVE]Fotnote: The seismic survey company owned jointly by Statoil and Norwegian arms manufacturer Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk. already exist. This demonstrates that oil on Norwegian territory is very much a state concern, and the word also has tradition behind it. It is easy to pronounce and emphatically understood by both Norwegians and foreigners. Statoil naturally expects the choice of name to be greeted with amusement and criticism, but is surely correct in claiming that the Statfjord name will eventually be regarded as a natural term in the oil debate.”[REMOVE]Fotnote: Verdens Gang, 30.August, 1974. «Stat» i alle navn på feltene.

It was unanimously approved by the licensees.