MSFT Microsoft Corporation

By Dominic Chopping

Norway's Equinor ASA (EQNR.OS) said Wednesday it has entered a strategic partnership with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) for cloud services delivered from new Microsoft data centers in Norway.

As part of the agreement, Equinor will provide industry knowledge and business needs to support Microsoft in developing new solutions for the energy industry, while Microsoft will provide expertise to accelerate Equinor's IT development and establish new data centers in Stavanger and Oslo.

"The partnership with Microsoft enables Equinor to shape and accelerate the development of fit-for-purpose IT services for the energy industry, and secure a faster transition to the cloud," the company said in a statement.

"The strategic partnership is a seven-year consumption and development agreement in the hundreds of millions of dollars."

The company plans to use the agreement as a platform to identify new solutions for the energy industry and further capitalize on common business opportunities.

Cloud services from Microsoft's new data center locations are planned to come into operation in late 2019, it said.

-Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com; Twitter: @domchopping @WSJNordics

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 20, 2018 04:27 ET (08:27 GMT)

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