Italy’s Eni and its majority-owned Vår Energi have completed the acquisition of Neptune Energy and its entire portfolio of oil and gas assets, except the company’s business in Germany.
Vår Energi completed the acquisition of Neptune Energy Norge along with its Norwegian oil and gas assets, while Eni acquired Neptune Energy’s remaining portfolio, aside from the company’s Germany business which was carved out of the transaction.
In its 2023 half-year financial reports, Neptune Energy said the transactions would have an aggregate value of $4.9 billion.
With the latest acquisition, Vår Energi became second largest independent E&P company on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) and the second largest supplier of gas from Norway to Europe.
The 63% Eni-owned company said it was on track to nearly double production by end-2025, and the acquisition of Neptune Norway marked an important step to this end.
As of now, Neptune Norway will operate as a fully owned subsidiary of Vår Energi and change the name to Vår Energi Norge.
From May 1, 2024, all employees of Vår Energi Norge will be fully integrated into the Vår Energi organization.
The companies will as per normal practice on the NCS consolidate their businesses, a process that is contemplated as a statutory merger planned to complete in the second half of 2024 .
Vår Energi has taken over ownership in 12 producing assets, three of which are operated by Neptune Norway and seven by Equinor, further strengthening the partnership between Vår Energi and Equinor.
According to Vår Energi, the ownership in the strategically important Snøhvit gas field and the associated Melkøya LNG plant, have amplified its position in the Barents Sea Area with access to a long-life asset expected to produce towards 2050.
As for Eni, the transaction aligns with its strategy of providing the market and the customers with low-carbon energy, guaranteed by natural gas. Through the transaction, Eni integrates portfolio with exceptional geographic and operational complementarity to its own.
The acquired assets include Neptune Energy’s participation in the Eni-operated Geng North-1 gas discovery, offshore Indonesia.
Also, the acquisition is strategic in terms of increased gas production in North Africa and in Northern Europe, where the transaction opens up new carbon capture and storage (CCS) opportunities. Eni regards CCS as a key lever in its decarbonization strategy and there are further possible synergies with the projects Neptune is pursuing in Norway and the Netherlands, the company said.