Norway’s Aker BP is considering combining the development of the North of Alvheim-Krafla-Askja (Noaka) oil and gas complex in the North Sea with offshore wind, pushing the Aker industrial group further into renewable energy amid the downturn in the petroleum market.

The combination could be part of development plans due to be submitted to Norwegian authorities in 2022. Aker BP and its larger Norwegian peer Equinor have agreed on commercial terms and a development concept for the fields that are estimated to hold about 500 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) in gross recoverable resources.

To minimise the carbon footprint of the major development, the partners plan to power the field from shore.

In that context, Aker BP said it will evaluate combining oil and gas operations with offshore wind, “which could potentially enable power to be exported back to shore in the future.”

Aker BP is 40% owned by holding group Aker ASA, which also holds 34.8% in battered offshore contractor Aker Solutions. British Petroleum (BP) owns another 30% in Aker BP.

“The recently announced tax changes give strong incentives to develop the NOAKA area and through this agreement we can mature all the resources in the area towards an investment decision,” Aker BP chief executive Karl Johnny Hersvik said.

Norway’s parliament is set to agree to a generous tax relief package to secure field project investments for the country’s beleaguered oil and gas industry.

“This will potentially unlock more than 300 mmboe of oil and gas resources for Aker BP, and hence significantly contribute to our growth. This is important to us, and perhaps even more important for the supply industry and the Norwegian society.”

Aker Group recently said it could create a new company dedicated to renewable energy project investments, and is looking to bolster the order books of Aker Solutions, possibly with more offshore wind. The contractor already is holding a stake in US-based floating wind technology pioneer Principle Power.

Equinor, Aker BP’s partner in the NOAKA development, is already a major player in offshore wind.

The pair have outlined a development concept for the North Sea fields that would entail a processing platform in the south of the area operated by Aker BP and an unmanned processing platform in the north operated by Equinor.

Equinor is the operator of the Krafla license and Aker BP is the operator of the NOA and the Fulla licenses.

Steve Marshall from our sister publication Upstream contributed to this article

Wind

Aker BP mulls adding offshore wind to major North Sea oil & gas development