London-listed oil firm EnQuest has completed the acquisition from Equinor of a 40.8125% interest in the Bressay oil field development on the UK continental shelf. It has also become the operator of the project.
As a result, EnQuest has a 40.81% interest in Bressay and operatorship and Equinor has a 40.81% non-operated interest, with Chrysaor retaining an 18.38% interest.
As previously announced, Enquest in July 202 agreed to pay the initial consideration of GBP 2,2 million (USD 2,8 million), payable as a carry against 50% of Equinor’s net share of costs, with a contingent consideration of USD 15 million following authority approval of a field development plan for Bressay.
Bressay is a heavy oil field in the Northern North Sea located in 110 meters water depth and is located 12 kilometers Northeast of the EnQuest operated Kraken heavy oil field.
It is one of the largest undeveloped oil fields in the UKCS with an estimated stock-tank oil initially in place ('STOIIP') of 600 to 1,050 MMbbls.
The Bressay field is located across four UK license blocks: P234, P493, P920 and P977. Each of these license blocks has the same equity partnership. Current partners in the Bressay field are Equinor (81.62%) and Chrysaor (18.38%).
The Bressay oil field was discovered east of Shetland in 1976 and Equinor became operator in 2007. The concept selection for the field development was deferred in 2016 due to challenging market conditions at the time and the need to simplify the development concept.
EnQuest, in July 2020 said the acquisition of the Bressay stake was a low-cost addition of up to 115 MMbbls (net) 2C resources, depending on the development concept. It at the time said it was looking at a number of development scenarios, including a potential tie-back to its Kraken field, developed via the Armada Kraken FPSO.
If developed via Kraken, Bressay-produced gas may be used for fuel for the FPSO, reducing carbon emissions over the longer term, the company said at the time.