Norwegian independent oil firm Aker BP AKRBP.OL will boost its dividend by 10%, the company said on Friday after posting a $2.2 billion operating profit for the final quarter of 2022, up from $1.2 billion a year earlier.
Norway's second-largest listed oil company, partly owned by BP, said it would raise its annual dividend to $2.2 per share, or a quarterly equivalent of $0.55 per share, up from $2.0 per share.
Aker BP expects to double its capital spending in 2023 to $3 billion-$3.5 billion, compared to $1.6 billion for the last year, as it plans to develop a number of new fields.
Last June, the company completed the acquisition of Norwegian upstream assets, including a 20% stake in the Johan Sverdrup oilfield, from Sweden's Lundin Energy.
"Through the Lundin acquisition, we have doubled in size and created a stronger and more financially robust platform for future growth," Aker BP Chief Executive Karl Johnny Hersvik said.
Aker BP sees its production growing to between 430,000-460,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) this year, up from 422,000 boed in the second half of 2022.
Part of the increase is expected to come from Western Europe's largest oilfield, Johan Sverdrup, where Aker BP has 31.6% stake.
Sverdrup's operator, Equinor, aims to boost the field's output to 755,000 boed from 720,000 boed later this year.
Aker BP has maintained its long-term plan to increase overall net production to 525,000 boed in 2028, with new projects expected to add 250,000-300,000 boed.
Last December, it approved plans to spend with partners more than 200 billion Norwegian crowns ($19.60 billion) to develop ten new oil and gas fields in the coming years.
This year, Aker BP plans to drill 17 exploration wells off Norway, including one in the Barents Sea, for a total budget of $0.4-0.5 billion.
($1 = 10.2017 Norwegian crowns)
Aker BP dividends - https://tmsnrt.rs/3YGCVEa
(Reuters - Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik and Philippa Fletcher)