Last week, Aker BP organized a Hackathon* in our offices in Fornebu. Six teams worked for 36 hours solving six challenges using coding and data facilitation: AkerAgent, FlashLiberation, LibraryChat, MaxOil, PDFinders and Wellbert. A panel of judges named three winners: Best project, Best community contribution, and People’s award.

Winner of Best Project, AkerAgent, was a chatbot with access to a number of Aker BP’s underground databases and APIs. With the same design layout as ChatGPT or Bing Chat, you could ask questions that were directly linked to Aker BP’s well data and internally developed machine learning models, and get quantitative answers about things like reservoir quality, stratigraphy, and even more involved topics like whether there were signs of hydrocarbons the area.

The winner of the People’s Prize was PDFinders. The team made better use of the invoice information we receive in PDF format from subcontractors. Today we get pages of details on invoices that are never used. Using python and several different libraries, they extracted tables from invoices in PDF format, and used this data to analyze new ways of categorizing cost.

Winner of Best community contribution was LibraryChat. The solution will make it possible to retrieve data from all Aker BP’s internal Sharepoint pages, make it searchable, and feed this information into ChatGPT, which will be able to provide detailed answers about what is published on Sharepoint.

FlashLiberation addressed phase separation into liquids and gas, which often occurs when hydrocarbons are produced and transported through pipelines. Calculations can be made for how much of the liquid will evaporate during such transportation – today this is usually carried out by third parties. The FlashLiberation project allows anyone in AkerBP to do these calculations and build new applications leveraging these calculations without the help of third parties.

MaxOil looked at how to maximize oil production by optimizing well controls using explainable and causal AI.

The Wellbert team investigated how recent advances in language models could be applied for analysing measurements taken in boreholes when exploring and producing hydrocarbons.
This paves the way for potentially leveraging the vast data we have on the NCS and building better predictive models.

– Events like this are important to use the knowledge and creativity of skilled employees to solve difficult and valuable challenges for Aker BP. We have a very strong environment for analytics and data science in Aker BP. In a Hackathon, the analysts build networks, and manage to contribute to developing more efficient ways of working in Aker BP, says Hege Fjell Urdahl, VP Digital Insight. She was also on the panel of judges during this year’s Hackathon, and is a sponsor of the Data Science environment in Aker BP.

* A Hackathon can be described as a social coding event, where computer programmers and other interested parties gather to either improve already existing software or build new software.

Aker BP has secured new financing commitments that extend beyond the company’s current Revolving Credit Facility (RCF) to November 2028, with two extension options that have the potential to further extend the final maturity to 2030.

The new RCF is supported by core existing relationship banks, with the facility closing at USD 1.8 billion following over-subscription. The new RCF will seamlessly succeed the existing facilities upon maturity in 2026, ensuring that Aker BP has further extended its maturity profile.

The transaction was led by Co-ordinators Barclays Bank Ireland and DNB Markets.

Aker BP UK Limited, a subsidiary of Aker BP, has been offered a 50 percent stake in a license area within the UK North Sea sector. The license area is located near the Norwegian border, in close proximity to the Alvheim field operated by Aker BP.

In the 33rd UK Offshore Licensing Round, DNO and Aker BP have each been offered a 50 percent interest in the license consisting of blocks 9/9f, 9/10c, 9/14c and 9/15d. DNO is offered operatorship for the license.

“The petroleum systems and plays in this region extend across the UK-Norway border. Our objective with this license is to explore the resource potential within the greater Alvheim area”, said Olav Blaich, VP Exploration at Aker BP.

The work program commitments for the offered blocks include obtaining 3D seismic data and conducting studies for the area.

Aker BP (operator) and OMV have successfully completed the acquisition of a 3D seismic survey over the Poseidon CCS licence area (licence EXL005) in the Norwegian North Sea, situated approximately 100 km off the Norwegian coast.

The seismic acquisition campaign was carried out by PGS with the vessel Ramform Atlas. Covering more than 500 km², the campaign aimed to generate high-resolution imaging of the CO₂ storage complex and to provide a baseline for monitoring of the storage integrity.

The Poseidon 3D seismic survey was safely executed within schedule and budget.

About Poseidon CCS

In March 2023, Aker BP ASA and OMV (Norge) AS were awarded the Poseidon licence (licence number EXL005) in accordance with the CO₂ Storage Regulations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The licence has a work program which includes a 3D seismic acquisition and related studies, followed by a drill-or-drop decision by May 2025 at the latest. Poseidon is a 50/50 partnership, operated by Aker BP.

Annually, the Finance Society Norway awards the Stockman Prize to the listed company in Norway that is best at informing the financial community and shareholders. Aker BP won the award today.

The Stockman Award is the financial market’s award, based on direct input from brokerage houses and Norway’s most prominent investors, which proposes relevant candidates and answers a market survey based on a list of criteria from the Finance Society Norway Stockman committee, which chooses a winner.

– This was both very pleasant and very inspiring. For us in the Investor Relations team, this award is proof that our clients in the capital market appreciate the work we do. Everyone who works with IR knows that this is a team effort. Many people in the company have contributed differently to where we are today, says VP of Investor Relations Kjetil Bakken.

The committee emphasizes several criteria such as accounting, financial presentations and information, and ESG reporting, which counts for 30 percent of the price.

Aker BP’s ESG reporting for last year has already received top marks in pure ESG ratings.

– This is yet another important recognition for the company and our thorough work within ESG over the years. Our ESG goals are an integral and essential part of Aker BP’s corporate strategy and perhaps the most critical reason we score so well in this assessment, says Sustainability Professional Eline Hagen Holsvik, who was responsible for the ESG report.

A wide range of people and functions in Aker BP are involved for the reporting to function optimally.

– Accounting and reporting are real teamwork, and this award is a great encouragement to continue and build the one team culture in Aker BP around our processes. There are quite a few people who work with the end product itself. Still, many more work behind the scenes and contribute to high integrity and trust in our reporting in the external market, says Jon Håkon Østhus, VP Financial Accounting & Integrated Reporting.

To kick-start the Outlook North conference, we will arrange a supplier-seminar together with Equinor on 1st of November from 08.00 to 10.30 at Quality Hotel Harstad.

At the seminar, you can meet Mette H. Otterøy, Director of Procurement at Equinor and Rolf Kristian Stave Nystein, VP Supply Chain Management & Logistics at Aker BP.

The target group for the seminar is everyone who is, or wants to become, suppliers to the oil and energy industry, as well as other interested parties. We organize this because we want to develop the industry and further strengthen cooperation with suppliers in northern Norway.

We hope to come in contact with existing and new suppliers, and we will use the seminar to talk about our upcoming projects and activities that may be relevant to the suppliers. Everyone is welcome to ask questions, and both Equinor and Aker BP are available for talks for those who are interested.

Aker BP has a big project portfolio

In June this year, the Storting approved Aker BP’s plans for development and operation for the Yggdrasil area and Fenris, as well as further development of Valhall. Yggdrasil and Valhall PWP-Fenris alone are making over NOK 165 billion in investments, and around 65% of these investments will come from Norwegian suppliers.

Program

08:00 Coffee and light breakfast is served

08:50 Welcome with Rolf Kristian Stave Nystein, Aker BP and Mette H. Ottøy, Equinor

09:00 Presentation by Equinor

09:30 Presentation by Aker BP

10:00 Questions from the audience

10:30 Wrap up

Press the button below to order a ticket.

Note: If you want to participate in Outlook North, you can «tick» that you want to participate in the supplier seminar as part of the «Conference ticket» order. If you only want to participate in the supplier seminar, you will find a separate ticket type for this.

We look forward to meeting you!

Aker BP was awarded the Exploration Innovation Prize for the development of machine learning models for use in exploration work. The company’s exploration department is already using the solution, often referred to as the ‘Exploration Robot.’

The machine learning models that have been developed can assist geologists and geophysicists in reconstructing missing well logs, making lithology predictions, calculating shale content, and mapping potential undiscovered reservoir areas. The solution can also provide an impartial assessment of log quality.

The prize is presented by Geopublishing and is awarded during the NCS Exploration Conference.

The jury was particularly impressed that the team has succeeded in creating a tool that is actually used and streamlines daily work.

Peder Aursand, Value Stream Manager and data scientist at Aker BP, presented the ‘Exploration Robot’ during the conference. He highlights three factors that have been crucial to their success.

«Firstly, we have focused on making the models work for the exploration team, not the other way around. Secondly, we have included explanations and quantification of inherent uncertainty as standard in the models. And we have made the models available in tools and software that the exploration team is already familiar with and uses daily,» says Aursand.

He received the award along with several representatives from the team that developed the Exploration Robot. In addition to Aursand, the team consists of Tanya Kontsedal, Kjetil Westeng, Yann Van Crombrugge, Christian Lehre, Martine Dyring Hansen, Peyman Rasouli, and Etienne Sylvain Peysson.

Aker BP receives an A+ rating in Position Green’s annual ranking of sustainability reporting among the 100 largest publicly traded companies in Norway. In total, 14 companies receive an A+ grade, which is the highest rating. «This is an important recognition for the company and for the thorough work we have done over the years,» says Øystein Arvesen, VP for Strategy and Sustainability at Aker BP.

The annual ESG100 report (Environmental, Social, and Governance) is prepared by the renowned consulting firm Position Green and assesses the quality of companies’ sustainability reporting. It evaluates compliance with formal legal reporting requirements and the quality of reporting data.

«Perhaps the most important reason why we score so well in this assessment is that our ESG goals are an integrated and crucial part of the company’s strategy. In our strategic priorities, we have goals directly related to sustainability, safety, and social responsibility,» says Øystein Arvesen.

What makes this year’s ESG100 report special is the focus on how well-prepared companies are for the much stricter rules introduced with the implementation of the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) from 2024. The directive requires systematic work in areas such as corruption, human rights, diversity, in addition to climate and sustainability. There will be stricter requirements for third-party verification of reporting data.

«For many years, we have established a systematic approach at Aker BP to document and measure the impact of our work in these areas. This is important not only to ensure that we are actually improving but also to achieve the goals we set for ourselves,» explains Øystein Arvesen. «We have initiated a project to close the gaps and be ready for CSRD reporting for the fiscal year 2024. This recognition from Position Green is a great motivator in this effort and demonstrates that we not only produce good reports but, more importantly, that we are doing excellent sustainability work at Aker BP,» says Øystein Arvesen.

Last week, Microsoft announced the strategic partnership that Aker BP, SLB and Halliburton are part of. This collaboration aims to develop Data Mesh, an innovative solution designed to revolutionize the efficiency and data availability for energy companies.

In today’s practice, field development involves a complex process where data from approximately 150 different applications must be collected manually, often using tools such as PowerPoint and Excel sheets, before decisions can be made at Decision Gates (DG). The time-consuming manual process of moving data between these applications is one of the main reasons why field development takes such a long time.

The purpose of the collaboration between Aker BP, Microsoft, SLB and Halliburton is to solve one of the industry’s biggest challenges. «Data Mesh,» the framework on top of Microsoft Azure Data Manager for Energy, will play a key role in solving this challenge. This framework provides the ability to maintain full visibility into the use of data, including its sources and assumptions, allowing for a more transparent and traceable decision-making process. This will significantly simplify and reduce the complexity and time efficiency associated with implementing changes.

Data Mesh can be described as an overarching layer that effectively connects all the data sets. This allows seamless access to data from various sources, including SLB, Halliburton and the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, via a single tool. The remarkable adaptability of the tool also enables easy integration of other datasets from future partners. This initiative will help transform the way data is shared and used in the industry, providing a solid foundation for future innovations and partnerships.

An important part of the process to become data-driven

In order to position ourselves as the leading company in exploration and production, it is necessary to continuously improve our operations. This often involves automating manual processes and basing our decisions on thorough analysis of data. Our collaboration related to Data Mesh represents a decisive step towards increased efficiency in the development and planning process for oil and gas fields.

Data Mesh lays the foundation for a more data-driven approach to field development. It frees up valuable resources previously spent on manual tasks and gives us the opportunity to channel those resources towards more critical aspects of the planning process. This initiative helps us to work more intelligently and strategically and gives us the opportunity to focus more on the core aspects that drive our success in field development.

– With Azure Data Manager for Energy and Data Mesh, we have seen efficiency increase across the board. It is a testament to the power of combining traditional industry knowledge with cutting-edge tech, says Paula Doyle, Chief Digital Officer at Aker BP.

Data Mesh also means that you have a continuous and up-to-date overview of where the data set is taken from, and how robust the data is. This helps to make faster decisions and reduce risk.

– When we now get continuously updated insight, and can improve operational efficiency, we will also move away from traditional data handling and consider data as a valuable product in itself. This represents a transition from passive to proactive data management. Data Mesh will take Aker BP a big step towards becoming data-driven, says Arnfinn Grøtte, Domain Manager Digitalisation D&W.

Building a larger data delivery ecosystem

Now that a digital platform is being established that is part of a larger digital ecosystem together with Microsoft, we can look at how we can automate more of the manual work we do today. It is measures like this that enable us at Aker BP to make faster decisions and have better control over risk. This will be incredibly important when we have to deliver the huge portfolio of projects in the coming years.