Statoil and Repsol announce transactions in Norway, UK, US and Brazil
Statoil farms down to Repsol a 15% interest in the Gudrun field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Statoil remains the operator and largest equity holder with a 36% interest.
Pending Repsol partner approval, Statoil will acquire a 31% equity share in the UK licence for Alfa Sentral, a field which spans the UK-Norway maritime border.
Statoil acquires from Repsol a 13% interest in the Eagle Ford joint venture and becomes its sole operator.
In agreement with its licence partners, Statoil will assume operatorship of the BM-C-33 licence in Brazil’s Campos basin, pending approval from authorities.
Once approved, the agreement on Alfa Sentral will increase Statoil’s holding in the UK licence for the field. It follows the transaction between Statoil and First Oil which was completed in November 2015. Statoil will become the largest equity holder in the Alfa Sentral field in both the UK and Norway licences, thus increasing its share of the resource base and its potential future profitability. The field is a priority project for Statoil and its development, as a tie back to the existing Sleipner infrastructure, will help to prolong and develop further the Sleipner area.
In the US, Statoil will now become sole operator of the Eagle Ford joint venture. This will allow for more optimal field development, efficient operations and cost savings, and thus more resilience to low oil prices.
In Brazil the operatorship of BM-C-33, once formally approved by the Brazilian authorities, will allow Statoil to use its deep-water and gas experience to develop the BM-C-33 discoveries.
The transactions for Gudrun and Eagle Ford are valued at the same amount and their effective dates are both 1 January 2015. They are expected to close before the end of 2015, pending government approvals. The transfer of operatorship of BM-C-33 will be concluded once approved by the Brazilian authorities.
Lambert Energy Advisory Ltd were sole advisers to Statoil on this process.
