Chief executive Helge Lund said on the sidelines of a presentation in London that Statoil would grow “not through acquisitions” but primarily by developing business opportunities, such as its recent acreage purchase off Angola.

“You have seen that we have made a major move in Angola... and of course we will always look at opportunities to do business development in M&A but we never announce that.”

His remarks came as Statoil’s fourth quarter results came in below forecasts and the Norwegian oil major said output could fall this year, highlighting the problems it faces from declining North Sea fields.

The company said its oil and gas production would be steady or lower in 2011 due to field maintenance. It also curbed its 2012 output goal.

Adjusted operating profit surged to 40.8 billion crowns ($7.1 billion) in October-December from 34.4 billion a year earlier on the back of higher energy prices.

But this fell short of an average forecast of 43.1 billion crowns from a Reuters poll of analysts.

“Overall, a very disappointing report,” said Trond Omdal, an analyst at Arctic Securities.

Equity production — an approximate measure of oil and gas output targeted by Statoil which does not take into account the company’s smaller take as oil prices rise — fell to 1.89 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2010 from 1.96 million in 2009.

“We are positioned to deliver a compound annual production growth rate of around 3 percent from 2010 to 2012,” Lund said in a statement.

“However, due to the constraints of existing production permits and the temporary issues at Gullfaks, this growth will not be linear. We expect production for 2011 to be around the 2010 level, or slightly below,” Lund added.

Three-percent compounded growth means production at 2 million boed in 2012 — down from Statoil’s previous guidance of 2.06 to 2.16 million boed.

Statoil’s reserve replacement ratio stood at 87 percent last year, meaning it produced more oil and gas than it found in new deposits and that its overall business shrank again.