UK supermajor BP today agreed to join forces with Norway’s Statkraft and Aker Offshore Wind in a consortium bidding to develop offshore wind in the Sørlige Nordsjø II licence area off Norway. 

Sørlige Nordsjø II will be developed without government support. Norway plans to announce the auction in Q1 2022 and to award two or three project areas based on a two-stage process.

The consortium, in which BP, Statkraft and Aker Offshore Wind will each hold a 33.3% share, also intends to explore opportunities to provide clean power to electrify offshore oil and gas facilities. 

BP has interests in the offshore wind sector in both the US and UK as well as a longstanding onshore wind business in the US.

Dev Sanyal, BP’s executive VP of gas and low carbon energy, said: “BP aims to grow our renewables business at scale and we see great opportunities in offshore wind energy. 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.”