By Nerijus Adomaitis
OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian oil exploration and production company Aker BP, built from a series of mergers and acquisitions in the last decade, has opportunities for further consolidation on Norway’s continental shelf, its top shareholder said on Friday.
Aker BP produced over 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 2024, up from just a few thousand daily barrels in 2013, and seeks to boost its output to over 500,000 boepd in 2028 by developing its current resources.
Norway’s second largest oil company behind state-controlled Equinor could also continue to incorporate assets from rivals, said Oeyvind Eriksen, the CEO of Aker ASA which owns 21.16% of Aker BP’s shares.
“There are a few opportunities that could be of interest for Aker BP. If and when they are for sale we would consider a possible transaction,” Eriksen told Reuters, adding the group would look for quality assets, not fields with declining output.
“There are a lot of old, legacy assets for sale which are not of interest,” he said.
Aker BP CEO Karl Johnny Hersvik told Reuters on Wednesday the company wanted assets that allow it to do things better, faster or with lower costs, and that opportunities appeared to be emerging for transactions at attractive prices.
Aker is the main investment vehicle of Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Roekke, while BP is the second biggest shareholder of Aker BP with a 15.87% stake.
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik and Christina Fincher)
