Equinor and Aker BP agree on NCS asset swaps with $23m cash payment

Equinor is marking 50 years of operations in Northern Norway. After five decades of investment and value creation, the company is planning for high activity and growth in the region for many decades to come. The Harstad office was opened in 1976 by then Statoil CEO Arve Johnsen as the company’s first establishment outside Stavanger.

 Equinor: More than half a million barrels of oil equivalent per day 

Today, Equinor produces more than half a million barrels of oil equivalent per day in Northern Norway — around 35 percent of the company’s own production on the Norwegian continental shelf. This makes Northern Norway an important energy province for European energy security.

CEO Anders Opedal

Photo: Ole Jørgen Bratland / ©Equinor

Equinor has achieved a lot in Northern Norway

Equinor has achieved a lot in Northern Norway over the past 50 years. We have built strong professional environments and created major value for the company, the region, and Norway. Our operations have helped develop the supplier industry and created skilled jobs and ripple effects throughout the region,” says CEO Anders Opedal.

Equinor currently has more than 1,200 employees in Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark. From Harstad, Equinor operates the Norne and Aasta Hansteen fields in the Norwegian Sea, as well as Snøhvit and Johan Castberg in the Barents Sea. Gas from Snøhvit is processed into LNG at Melkøya in Hammerfest.

 Isflak — the first subsea field to be tied back to Johan Castberg.

On behalf of the partnership, Equinor has already started developing Isflak — the first subsea field to be tied back to Johan Castberg. Over the past year, the company has also made the Drivis Tubåen and Polynya discoveries in the area. For Drivis Tubåen, an investment decision has already been made, and the discovery will be tied into existing infrastructure at Johan Castberg.

Grete Birgitte Haaland, Equinor’s senior vice president for Exploration and Production North

Photo: Andreas Kleiberg / ©Equinor

Extend plateau production from Johan Castberg

“We are working to increase the resource base and extend plateau production from Johan Castberg, and we therefore plan to drill one to two exploration wells annually in the area going forward,” says Grete Birgitte Haaland, Equinor’s senior vice president for Exploration and Production North.

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The resource base for Johan Castberg was originally estimated at 500–700 million barrels of oil. Equinor aims to increase this by a further 200–500 million barrels through continued exploration and development in the area.

The Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea

Photo: Søren Q. Terkildsen/Søren Ø. Clausen/Rene J. Feuerlein - ©Equinor

 Equinor and Aker BP have agreed on asset transactions 

On the other hand, Equinor and Aker BP have agreed asset transactions covering the Troll-Fram, Frigg, and Wisting areas, including a $23m cash payment from Aker BP to Equinor, according to Equinor.  Aker BP will buy 19% interests in Ringvei Vest-area licences covering the Grosbeak, Røver Nord, Røver Sør, Toppand, and Swisher discoveries.

 The Kveikje discovery in the Ringvei Vest development

The companies also aim to include the Kveikje discovery in the Ringvei Vest development, a planned Equinor-operated cluster in the Troll-Fram area of the North Sea.  Aker BP will also acquire 38.16% of UK licence P2343, the Frigg licence, leaving Equinor with 61.84%. The transaction is intended to allow coordinated appraisal and development of the cross-border Omega Alfa discovery and oil resource potential around the Frigg field. 

 Raise its stake in the Wisting discovery

Equinor will raise its stake in the Wisting discovery in PL 537 and PL 537B from 35% to 42.5%, strengthening its position in what it called the largest undeveloped discovery on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.  

“By aligning interests across these assets, we can enable better and faster project decisions,” said Kjetil Hove, Equinor’s executive vice president for Exploration & Production Norway. The agreements are effective from 1 January 2026 and are subject to regulatory approvals.  

# Kjetil Hove #Equinor #Frigg field.#Aker BP #Ringvei Vest #Kveikje #Grete Birgitte Haaland #CEO Anders Opedal #Northern Norway # Kveikje #CEO Arve Johnsen