Aker BP open to more M&A as well as investment plans, CEO says
OSLO, Oct 30 (Reuters) -Norwegian oil major Aker BP AKRBP.OL is open to expansion via mergers and acquisitions even as it undergoes a period of rapid investment in its own discoveries, the group's CEO Karl Johnny Hersvik told Reuters on Wednesday.
"There is some sort of an idea that it (M&A) is off the table because we are too busy with the projects. I want to leave a clear message to the market that from Aker BP's perspective that's not the case," Hersvik said in an interview.
"If there's a good case out there, the market shouldn't rule out that Aker BP is going after it," the CEO added, speaking after Aker BP reported its quarterly results.
The company, partly owned by BP BP.L, grew via a series of takeovers following the oil market crash in 2014, including a deal to merge with BP's Norwegian business in 2016 and the acquisition of Lundin Energy's assets in 2021.
The company has lately focused on developing more than 10 new oil and gas projects off Norway which are expected to boost its output to around 525,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) by 2028 from 430,000-440,000 boed this year.
But Hersvik also said that for the time being it was difficult to find comparably good assets to Aker BP's own in-house portfolio, in terms of production costs, carbon emissions intensity or break-even price.
"So, it's more difficult to allocate capital to M&A than to allocate capital to organic development, which is a change from the previous years," he said.
Asked about the oil market's weakness and analysts' predictions for prices to fall next year as OPEC+ considers unwinding production cuts, Hersvik said this could open more opportunities.
"Everybody should be hoping for a stable oil and gas environment, but Aker BP, relative to other companies, is best when it's a bit rough out there."
Aker BP ended the third quarter with $4.1 billion in cash and cash equivalents, and in October refinanced near-term debt with longer maturities, including a 30-year bond of $750 million.
Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Terje Solsvik and David Holmes
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