German oil and gas company Wintershall Dea has agreed to sell a 35.2% share in the Brage field and a 6.46% share in the Ivar Aasen field, as well as 6% of the Nova development, all offshore Norway, to the Norwegian oil firm OKEA.
OKEA will pay a fixed consideration of USD 117.5 million with additional contingent payment structure subject to oil price and oil production during
2022-24.
The contingent consideration will be paid if the average oil price for each of the six half-year periods during 2022-24 exceeds USD 80/bbl and the aggregated net oil production volumes exceeds certain predefined production levels. The split on the price exceeding 80 USD/bbl is 70% net after tax to Wintershall Dea and 30% to OKEA in 2022 and a 50/50 net after-tax split in 2023-24.
Wintershall Dea will retain responsibility for 80% of OKEA's share of total decommissioning costs related to the Brage Unit.
Following the sale, Wintershall Dea will exit the Brage and the Ivar Aasen fields, and will own, as the operator, 39% of the Nova development. All the fields are located in the Norwegian part of the North Sea.
"Norway is and remains an important core region for Wintershall Dea's production in our global portfolio," said Dawn Summers, Chief Operating Officer at Wintershall Dea. "With the sale of our interests in Brage and Ivar Aasen, we are further strengthening our focus in Norway on gas production. Here we already have a strong position in the country, and our major projects Dvalin and Njord, that are planned to come on stream by the end of 2022, will add further gas volumes that secure energy supply in Europe."
“We remain one of the biggest producers in Norway, and one of the largest exporters of gas, while also robustly shaping our business for the opportunities we see coming on the shelf,” said Managing Director at Wintershall Dea Norge, Michael Zechner. “Through this agreement, we have not only realized value for our assets and exited the operatorship of Brage in favor of a company which specializes in mid-late life fields, we have also gained a valuable partner in our operated Nova license”, Zechner underlined.
Wintershall Dea said it would, in Norway, will put an even stronger focus on exploration, development, and production in core areas, to continuously develop a low-carbon asset portfolio and position the company within carbon management and hydrogen.
Wintershall Dea's total production in Norway was 159,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2021, more than half of which was natural gas. Volumes from upcoming projects Nova, Njord and Dvalin will add around 70,000 to 80,000 boe/d. Production from Brage and Ivar Aasen totaled around 6,000 boe per day.
As for the Nova field, discovered in 2012, and currently under development, it is expected to start productin in the second half of 2022.
The well stream will be routed to the Gjøa platform for processing and export. The oil will be transported further through the Troll Oil Pipeline II to the Mongstad terminal, and the gas will be exported via the Far North Liquids and Associated Gas System (FLAGS) pipeline to St Fergus in the UK.
OKEA CEO, Svein J. Liknes said: "We are very pleased to announce this transaction with Wintershall Dea which represents a significant step towards delivering inorganic growth in line with our revised strategy as set out at the end of last year. Through this acquisition, OKEA establishes a new operated position, enhances the scale and diversification of our portfolio and strengthens our position within existing core areas."