Quest to boost oil production sets SLB and Stimwell up for five more years with Aker BP

Norwegian oil and gas player Aker BP has decided to prolong its alliance agreement with SLB and Stimwell Services in a bid to speed up and increase oil production by keeping the Well Intervention and Stimulation Alliance busy for five more years.

Aker BP, together with SLB and Stimwell Services, inked a five-plus-five-year tripartite agreement in 2019 to form Well Intervention and Stimulation Alliance to accelerate and bolster oil production. The trio has now followed this up with a renewed agreement, which was signed by the CEOs of all three companies at Aker BP’s headquarters at Fornebu on April 2, 2025.

This alliance has supported the Norwegian firm’s operated assets in meeting production targets by combining collaboration, digitalization, and innovative technology, unlocking milestones such as simultaneous operations using jack-up rigs, a reduced backlog of locked-in barrels, and what Aker BP describes as the world’s first autonomous intervention operation.

Karl Johnny Hersvik, CEO of Aker BP, commented: “Strategic partnerships are essential to shaping the future of our industry. At Aker BP, we remain committed to the alliance model, which creates value through long-term collaboration.

“It enables us to increase productivity, maintain world-class performance, and deliver oil and gas with low cost and low emissions. This is how we position ourselves as the E&P company of the future.” 

As planning and execution are now handled through digital workflows, the company claims that this results in increased productivity, lower risk, and improved success rates. The alliance strategy will continue to focus on transforming offshore well intervention and stimulation over the next five years.

Therefore, the partners aim to continue delivering top-quartile performance while further developing future-proof capabilities, including scaling up digital transformation through deeper integration between subsurface and operational domains, expanding the use of the Norwegian operator’s Integrated Operations Centre for remote operations, and accelerating the deployment of new technologies.  

Sami Haidar, Managing Director at StimWell Servies, emphasized: “Stimulation has been critical in unlocking and increasing the recovery from tight reservoirs such as Valhall. During the last five years, the alliance working together, managed to successfully develop very tight areas of the field, by using innovative technology which significantly reduced the execution time, and CO2 footprint and making it economic.” 

In addition, this alliance is expected to play a key role in putting wells on stream across Aker BP’s field development projects. To this end, a newly upgraded stimulation vessel will be used to optimize the new Valhall PWP wells. The company is convinced that this will contribute significantly to future production. 

Olivier Le Peuch, CEO of SLB, highlighted: “Increasing production and recovery from maturing assets is a top priority across the industry, and this alliance demonstrates how we can drive progress together through the power of partnership.

“The complex challenges facing our industry will increasingly require deep collaboration and trust across teams, and this alliance has been a cornerstone example of how powerful driving innovation together can be.”  

Drydocks World Dubai, part of DP World, recently wrapped up the final section of a module for Aker BP’s new platform, which will be deployed at an oil and gas development in the Norwegian North Sea.