The oil spill from a BP PLC (BP) well in the Gulf of Mexico will have an impact on all companies operating in the region, including the likelihood of tighter regulations and slower opening of new exploration areas, Statoil ASA's (STO) Chief Financial Officer, Eldar Saetre, said Wednesday.

Statoil, which has significant operations in the Gulf of Mexico , is continuing to drill two exploration wells there and is satisfied they are completely safe, he said. Statoil has offered advice and services to the cleanup effort, he said.

Statoil's equity oil and gas production hit an all-time high of 2.102 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in the first quarter of 2010, due in large part to the ramp up of the Tahiti and Thunder Hawk fields in the Gulf of Mexico, said Saetre. "We don't expect any impact on production," from the current crisis in the Gulf, he said.

BP has sealed the smallest of three leaks from the wreckage left after the Transocean Ltd. (RIG) drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank two weeks ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on its website Wednesday. However, this won't reduce the 5,000 barrels a day of crude oil leaking from a riser pipeline on the sea bed, it said.

BP will start Thursday to lower a giant funnel intended to capture oil at the source of the largest leak, which could reduce the amount of oil reaching the surface by 85%. So far the containment operation led by BP has prevented any significant oil contamination of the coastline.

In response to the accident, President Barack Obama's administration has suspended plans to open up new areas of U.S. water to oil drilling. Florida governor Charlie Crist and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger have come out against drilling off their states' coastlines since the accident.

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