Aker BP and Lundin defend their marriage

The Norway-focused producers are sticking to their guns in the face of critical analysis

“The proposed combination of Aker BP and Lundin Energy's E&P business… is a tremendous deal to combine these two great companies, drawing on the best of both to make something even bigger and better. It creates a Norwegian pure-play E&P company of scale, production growth, low costs and low carbon emissions that I think is set to prosper through the energy transition.” So says Nick Walker, Lundin’s CEO. But it is fair to say that not everyone is convinced by the combination of the two Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) independents to create a 400,000bl/d oe producer. The tone of questioning during Aker BP’s Q4 results call was combative. “Given Aker BP managed to achieve a resource r