Aker BP acquires King Lear discovery

NORWAY -- Aker BP has entered into an agreement with Equinor Energy to acquire its 77.8% interest in the King Lear gas/condensate discovery in the Norwegian North Sea for a cash consideration of $250 million.

Karl Johnny Hersvik, CEO of Aker BP comments:

“The King Lear discovery is one of the largest undeveloped discoveries on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, and represents an excellent opportunity for Aker BP. Our goal is to develop King Lear as a satellite to Ula. This will improve the capacity utilization at the Ula facilities and provide significant additional volumes of injection gas to support increased oil recovery from the Ula field.”

Net recoverable resources in the King Lear discovery are estimated to 77 MMboe according to data from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. When including the increased oil recovery potential from Ula, Aker BP estimates a total resource addition of more than 100 MMboe net to the company.

King Lear is located approximately 50 km south of the Ula field center, in production licenses 146 and 333. The transaction covers Equinor Energy’s 77.8% interest in the two licenses. The remaining 22.2% interest is held by Total E&P Norge.

The transaction is subject to approval by Norwegian authorities.