BW Group May Sell Shares in Offshore Unit

Helmut Sohmen, chairman of BW Group Ltd. may sell shares in its offshore unit as producers order oil platforms to drill fields in deeper water, according to a Bloomburg report. An initial public offering of shares in BW Offshore is possible within the next two years, Sohmen, 66, said, according to the report. The unit operates a fleet of eight tankers converted into platforms used to pump oil from undersea fields.

BW Group acquired the offshore business in 2003 when World-Wide Shipping, started in Hong Kong by Sohmen's father-in-law in 1955, acquired Oslo-based Bergesen d.y. ASA. BW Offshore's FPSOs, operate in seas off Mauritania, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea in West Africa, New Zealand, and Mexico.