Aker BP CEO Says Investments in the Brazilian Oil and Gas Market Could Be One of Its Next Steps

Aker BP Can Invest in the Brazilian Oil and Gas Market If Opportunities Arise

Aker BP can expand its oil and gas investments to other countries if it finds competitive opportunities abroad, its CEO said on Thursday. Any move to invest outside its home country of Norway would be a strategic shift for Aker BP, which was founded in 2016 through the combination of BP’s Norwegian unit and Aker-controlled oil and gas assets.

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Brazil on the Radar for Investments

Among the locations the company has examined is Brazil, where one of its sister companies, engineering firm Aker Solutions, has been doing business in the oil sector for years, said Aker BP CEO Karl Johnny Hersvik, in an interview.

“Brazil is an interesting oil market. It is a highly prolific region”, Hersvik said, but added that he has not yet found assets that justify an investment there. The Brazilian state operator Petrobras, which is looking to reduce debt and enhance its focus, put the Albacora and Albacora Leste fields up for sale last year, with a combined daily production of about 77,000 barrels of oil equivalent. “We analyzed that divestment campaign and decided not to participate”, he said about the two Albacora fields.

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CEO of the Company Says Firms Need to Move Out of Their Investment Cycle

Aker BP is already planning a significant expansion in Norway, with a dozen projects expected to come online in the coming years and a package of tax incentives introduced by the country’s parliament to boost activity.

“Any entry outside the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS), but also merger and acquisition activities in the NCS need to make sense in that context”, Hersvik said.

Aker BP, which last year pumped 210,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), plans to increase its production in Norway by 70% to over 350,000 boepd by 2028, it announced on Thursday.

Billionaire Norwegian Kjell Inge Roekke owns 40% of Aker BP’s shares through his investment firm Aker, while British BP holds 30% of the shares. Aker BP shares traded 2.3% lower on the day, at 1:12 PM GMT, underperforming a 0.3% decline in European oil and gas stocks.