Aker BP Profits Rise on Prices

Norway's Aker BP, the joint venture formed last year, said April 28 that its 1Q net profit doubled year on year to $69mn (1Q2016: $32mn).

Earnings before interest and tax were $273mn, compared to a 1Q2016 Ebit loss of $23mn, buoyed by higher prices and production volumes.

Production from Norway's Skarv gas field, which it operates with a 23.8% interest, remained high and stable during the quarter, the company said, although it acknowledged that an acute spill to sea from Skarv of 200 litres of crude oil, leaked from the offloading hose, occurred in 1Q.

Aker BP CEO Karl Johnny Hersvik (Photo credit: Statoil)

Aker BP said it is on track to submit three plans for development and operation during 2017, relating to the Snadd, Valhall West and Storklakken projects. Snadd, a gas satellite field near Skarv, is planned to produce first gas in 2020 from three subsea wells tied back to Skarv A platform. 

The company's net 1Q production of 145,338 barrels of oil equivalent per day far exceeded its 60,615 boe/d in 1Q2016, thanks a full quarter of oil production from Viper-Kobra (in the Alvheim area) which started up in November last year.

On April 27, Aker BP announced it had entered into a framework contract lasting four years with Schlumberger for acquisition of 4D seismic data, with two options each of two years, for a possible maximum of eight. It includes 4D seismic acquisition by the US firm's WesternGeco subsidiary over Aker BP-operated fields Alvheim, Boyla, Skarv/Snadd and Ula in 2017.

Mark Smedley