Page 15 - EurOil Week 06 2021

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

Aker BP to remain pure-play producer

despite BP’s green shift

NORWAY NORWEGIAN firm Aker BP has said it intends temporary tax relief offered by the government
to remain a pure-play oil and gas producer, last summer to support continued investment.
Aker BP aims for a big despite parent company BP’s shift towards This prompted Aker BP to resume redevelop-
ramp-up in production renewables and other low-carbon technologies. ment of the Hod oilfield after putting the plan
while its parent is The company, which lifted 223,100 barrels of on hold when the coronavirus (COVID-19)
scaling back. oil equivalent per day (boepd) from fields on the pandemic struck. Aker BP expects its invest-
Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) last year, ments to amount to $2.2-2.3bn this year, up from
says it will still contribute to the energy transi- $1.7bn in 2020.
tion, though. It will do this “through maximis- BP, which owns 36.9% stake of Aker BP, is
ing value creation, minimising emissions, and going in a starkly different direction to its part-
by sharing of data and competence to other owned subsidiary. The company is looking to
industries.” scale back its oil and gas output by 40% over the
Aker BP boasted emissions of only 4.5 kg per coming decade, while boosting its renewables
boe last year, which it noted was under one third generation twentyfold to 50 GW. The more the
of the global average. And the company is work- pair’s paths diverge, the more likely BP is to con-
ing to reduce the level further, it said. sider a divestment from Aker BP, even though
Aker BP enjoyed a significant bump in out- the company offers a low-cost source of revenue
put last year thanks to its 11.6% stake in the growth.
Equinor-operated Johan Sverdrup field, which Aker BP enjoyed a strong fourth quarter con-
started up in October 2019 and is on track to sidering the weak market conditions. Its earn-
reach a production rate of 535,000 barrels per ings before interest and tax came to $278mn,
day by mid-2021. Output will be raised to over versus $491mn a year earlier.
700,000 bpd under a second phase of develop- The company had intended to issue $850mn
ment, due to see first oil in the fourth quarter of in dividends in 2020 but cut the figure to
2022. $425mn in May, following the collapse in oil
Aker BP expects to produce 210,000-220,000 prices. It expects to pay shareholders $450mn in
boepd of crude in 2020, but aims to ramp up 2021, however, and increase annual dividends
flows to over 350,000 boepd by 2028, on the by 5% each year from 2022, as long as oil prices
back of further growth at Sverdrup and its other are above $40 per barrel. It is well-positioned
projects. It intends to take final investment deci- to deliver on this promise, with some $4.5bn in
sions (FIDs) on 10-12 new fields by the end of liquidity and no debts maturing before 2024.
2022, comprising over 500mn boe of resources. “The operational performance has never
These projects enjoy breakeven points of under been stronger, the financial position has never
$30 per barrel, making them resilient to bearish been more robust, and our investment oppor-
oil market conditions. tunities have never been more attractive to pur-
The company says it is able to maintain sue,” CEO Karel Johnny Hersvik commented in
high levels of capital expenditure on account of a statement. ™

Week 06 11•February•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P15