Statoil ASA STO has exercised options for earlier awarded drilling service contracts for 17 fixed installations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) on behalf of relevant licensees.Statoil had awarded four-year contracts with options for two-year extension up to three times to Archer, KCA Deutag and Odfjell in 2012.With the contract extension with suppliers, the company has exercised its first option. The duration of this option is from Oct 1, 2016 to Oct 1, 2018 and will include certain changes to the original contract.Statoil expects the total value of the contract for the next two-year period to be about NOK 5 billion. The work will involve drilling and well services, maintenance of drilling facilities, along with modifications and any optional work.Statoil is a Norway-based major international integrated oil and gas company. Statoil’s endeavor to improve recovery of resources in mature fields is commendable. The company has operations in all major hydrocarbon-producing regions of the world, with an emphasis on the NCS. We believe that Statoil is well positioned to sustain its steady production growth over the next few years on the back of its large resource base at NCS.In recent times, Statoil delivered strong exploration results and added significantly to its resource base by making several high impact discoveries. The latest finds give the company access to new regions of Norway, Russia, Azerbaijan, Tanzania as well as Australia, thereby paving the way for long-term growth.Currently, Statoil carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked players from the energy sector are ReneSola Ltd. SOL, Statoil ASA STO and Enviva Partners, LP EVA. Each of these stocks sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report STATOIL ASA-ADR (STO): Free Stock Analysis Report RENESOLA LT-ADR (SOL): Free Stock Analysis Report ENVIVA PARTNERS (EVA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research