Bp : Aker and Statkraft join forces for offshore wind in the Norwegian North Sea

OSLO, 14 June 2021: bp today agreed to join Statkraft and Aker Offshore Wind in a ‎consortium bidding to develop offshore wind energy in Norway.

The partnership - in which bp, Statkraft and Aker Offshore Wind will each hold a 33.3% ‎share - will pursue a bid to develop offshore wind power in the Sørlige Nordsjø II (SN2) ‎licence area.

SN2's favourable location provides power export access to local and adjacent markets. The ‎consortium also intends to explore opportunities to provide clean power to electrify ‎offshore oil and gas facilities. The partnership would work with local suppliers, building ‎industrial competencies for Norway's offshore wind market, and contribute toward value ‎creation in the Nordic and European energy market.

The consortium brings together the individual companies' strong technical skills and deep ‎experience in offshore energy projects, covering the full value chain from development to ‎the delivery of offshore renewable energy to market.‎

bp has interests in the offshore wind sector in the both the US and UK and a longstanding ‎onshore wind business in the US. It brings strong North Sea development and operating ‎experience, international energy trading capabilities and a disciplined financial framework to ‎the partnership.‎

Dev Sanyal, bp's executive vice president of gas & low carbon energy, said: 'bp aims to ‎grow our renewables business at scale and we see great opportunities in offshore wind ‎energy. We have decades of offshore experience in the North Sea and will also bring our ‎extensive trading capabilities and strong relationships in Europe. Coming together with ‎Aker and Statkraft, we believe this consortium will be ideally positioned to effectively and ‎efficiently grow and deliver clean power for European markets, as well as strengthen the ‎supply to Norway when needed.'‎

'Coming together with ‎Aker and Statkraft, we believe this consortium will be ideally positioned to effectively and ‎efficiently grow and deliver clean power for European markets, as well as strengthen the ‎supply to Norway when needed.'

Dev Sanyal, executive vice president of gas & low carbon energy, bp

As Europe's largest producer of renewable energy, Statkraft's expertise in energy ‎management and its experience and competence in wind farm development and ‎operations provide a foundation for success in developing SN2.‎

Christian Rynning-Tønnesen, chief executive of Statkraft, said: 'We have extensive ‎capability from the development and operation of onshore wind around the world and ‎experience in significant offshore wind projects in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Strong ‎growth, decreasing technology costs and the involvement of industrial and financial players ‎all indicate the rising role that offshore wind will play in Europe. Our partnership with Aker ‎and bp will create meaningful value and contribute towards Europe's energy transition.'‎

Aker brings to the project its learnings and know-how from five decades of designing and ‎executing offshore projects in the North Sea as a supplier, developer and operator. Aker ‎Horizons will work closely with the consortium on topics including strategy and financing, ‎and the partnership will also benefit from the broad capabilities of other Aker companies, ‎including Cognite and Aker Solutions.‎

Kristian Røkke, chairman of Aker Offshore Wind and chief executive of Aker Horizons, ‎added: 'Our partnership has the potential to redefine Norway's position as an energy ‎nation, and the consortium's joint capabilities are building blocks to lead the energy ‎transition. Together with Statkraft and bp we will work to develop the Norwegian offshore ‎wind industry, reduce emissions and create new jobs.'‎

With bp joining the Norwegian consortium, energy cooperation between Norway and the ‎United Kingdom is also further strengthened.‎