Its AGR Petroleum Services division currently holds interests in E&P licences off Israel, where its Aphrodite-2 wildcat struck gas shows last year, and a 44% stake in offshoot AGR Energy that has applied for licences off Cyprus and Ghana.

The Oslo-listed oilfield services group now intends to separate out its E&P interests by transferring the petroleum services business, which mainly provides well, field management and reservoir solutions, to a new holding company, dubbed Newco, with a similar ownership structure.

This