Oil company DNO International ASA (DNO.OS) Tuesday said it plans to sell up to six million of its shares in Det Norske Oljeselskap to Aker ASA at NOK49.90 a share to raise cash for general corporate and international operations.

One million Detnor shares will be sold immediately on an unconditional basis to Aker, leaving DNO 21.92% of the Norwegian exploration company. Five million further shares will be sold subject to approval from relevant competition authorities, reducing DNO's Detnor stake to 14.22%.

Detnor was split off from DNO in 2007 with the aim of making it the second-biggest listed exploration and production company in Norway after incumbent StatoilHydro ASA (STO). Approval for a merger between Detnor and oil company Aker Exploration is pending.

"Aker's purchase of shares in Detnor today will strengthen Detnor further...DNO will continue to support Detnor and its strategy for further exploration and development on the NCS," DNO said in a statement.

In recent weeks, DNO has been battling for its core oil assets in Kurdistan after a row blew up between it, the Oslo Stock Exchange and the Kurdish Regional Government, or KRG, resulting in a short suspension of its operations and exports from the region in Iraq.

It has since been reinstated as operator, but won't export oil from the Tawke field, instead trucking volumes to local markets. Exports by international companies in Kurdistan to international markets since June have not been compensated with revenue from Iraq's central government, meaning DNO's cashflow situation has been weakened.

The Detnor share sale will help it continue investment in the Kurdish region until a solution is reached between the KRG and Baghdad over distribution of resources and revenues in the country.

DNO closed Monday at NOK4.52, representing around a kroner recovery from the low reached in late September after KRG suspended its Kurdish operations.

Web site: www.dno.no

-By Elizabeth Adams, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0) 20 7842 9386; elizabeth.adams@dowjones.com