Aker BP and Total are seeking to increase their stakes in the giant Equinor oilfield

Aker BP announced on Wednesday that TotalEnergies, Aker BP and Equinor are seeking a review of their shares in Equinor’s Johan Sverdrup field in order to increase their holdings.

Sverdrup, which is built across several offshore oil-and-gas licences, is owned by Equinor 42.63%, Aker BP 31.57%, Norwegian oil company Petoro 17,36%, and France's TotalEnergies 8.44%.

Owners of a field that began producing oil in 2019 have the right of requesting a review of their stakes, based on data from production and reservoirs.

Aker BP CEO Karl Johnny Hersvik said that both TotalEnergies (and Aker BP) used the option to request a redetermination – a process for deciding again on their stakes – in January.

Hersvik stated, "I won't speculate on the outcome of such a procedure but we would not have done it if we weren't expecting a positive result."

He said that the redetermination of ownership rates could result in a change at Sverdrup but refused to comment on what size adjustments might be.

Hersvik explained that "the future production (share), will be according the new stake and you are then compensated for the share you should have previously had, but back to an earlier date."

This compensation is likely to be in the form additional oil volumes that the partners can sell.

Equinor stated that it, as the operator of Sverdrup, was conducting the redetermination in compliance with the regulations.

Hersvik stated that he expects the process to take between 12 and 18 months.

TotalEnergies and Petoro didn't immediately respond to comments.

Equinor announced last week that Sverdrup will produce 720,000 barrels equivalent of oil per day in average by 2025. This is close to the level it produced in 2023-2024.

Aker BP will account for half of Sverdrup’s output in 2024. (Reporting and editing by Nerijus Adomiaitis, Christian Schmollinger, Emelia Sithole Matarise).

(source: Reuters)