Norwegian energy company Statoil said Tuesday it wants to cut its carbon dioxide emissions from oil sands production, though there may be short-term spikes.

Statoil operates oil sands production facilities primarily in Canada. It said its oil sands production declined "slightly" last year.

The company said CO2 intensity should decrease as it introduces additional technology at its Leismer oil sands operations in Alberta, Canada. There may be spikes in the interim, however.

The Norwegian company said in a report Tuesday about 69.7 kilograms of CO2 were produced per barrel of oil. That was higher than expected, the company said, but lower than the 72.7 kg of CO2 per barrel produced in 2011.

"Our long-term CO2 targets for reduced carbon dioxide intensity in the production process, with 25 percent by 2020 and 40 percent by 2025, remain firm," Stale Tungesvik, Statoil's manager in Canada, said in a statement.

Tungesvik said Statoil was looking at more than a dozen different technologies it may test long-term in an effort to curb CO2 emissions from its oil sands operations in Canada.

Statoil said Leismer is producing around 20,000 barrels of oil per day.

Suncor plans Edmonton refinery overhaul
Edmonton, Alberta (UPI) Apr 8, 2013 - Canadian company Suncor Energy said it plans to spend about eight weeks overhauling its oil sands refinery in Edmonton, Alberta.

Suncor said about 1,400 of its employees would be deployed for regular maintenance at its Edmonton refinery.

"Although this maintenance work may result in an increase in flaring, noise and traffic related to Suncor's operations, necessary precautions have been taken to ensure these disruptions are kept to a minimum," the company said in a statement Monday.

The refinery in 2011 celebrated its 60th anniversary of operations. It's designed to process 142,000 barrels of oil sands per day into light oils.

The company said it made the necessary arrangements to ensure its meeting its supply obligations to its customers during the maintenance period.

Last year, the company reported a release of water mixed with what it said was a biodegradable cleaning product. Suncor said the release had no impact on wildlife.