Maersk Oil, part of the A.P. Moller-Maersk shipping and oil group, has agreed to buy a 20% stake in an exploration licence in the Norwegian Sea from Winthershall, Maersk said on Friday.

Maersk did not give any financial details of the deal to buy the stake in licence PL435 with Winthershall, which is a subsidiary of German chemicals group BASF.

"This is quality acreage and an important step in our process to build material production in Norway," Ake Hesselbom, managing director of Maersk Oil in Norway, said in a statement.

An exploration well is expected to be spudded in the licence area in June, Maersk said. Its partners in the prospect are Germany's RWE, which is the operator, Norway's Noreco and Italy's Edison, Maersk said.