Statoil and Repsol have agreed deals covering acreage in Norway, UK, US and Brazil.
Statoil is to farm down 15% in the Norwegian Gudrun field to Repsol, retaining operatorship and 36% interest.
Pending Repsol partner approval, Statoil will acquire 31% equity in the UK license for Alfa Sentral, making it the largest equity holder. The field - a "priority project" for Statoil as a tie-back to the Sleipner facilities offshore Norway - spans the UK-Norway maritime border and contains some 60 MMboe.
Statoil will also acquire from Repsol a 13% interest in the Eagle Ford joint venture and becomes its sole operator.
Statoil will also assume operatorship of the BM-C-33 license in Brazil’s Campos basin, pending approval from authorities.
The high impact discovery in the Pão de Açúcar prospect was made in the BM-C-33 license in 2012. Since then, the partners have completed two successful appraisal wells in Pão de Açúcar to understand further the size of the discovery. In 2012 the partnership communicated total estimated block resources of around 700 million barrels of light crude and 3 trillion cubic feet of gas. The ongoing appraisal campaign will clarify the discovered potential.
Statoil says: "These transactions increase the number of Statoil’s operatorships in priority areas, providing greater control of asset development and costs through shared efficiencies."
John Knight, Statoil’s Executive Vice-President for Global Strategy & Business Development, says: “We are bringing a strong partner into Gudrun, an important NCS asset, and our increased interest in the Alfa Sentral development will strengthen our efforts to develop the important Sleipner area towards 2030.
“The US and Brazil are focus areas for Statoil’s international strategy. As the sole operator in the Eagle Ford Joint Venture, we will deliver benefits for both partners. We are looking forward to becoming operator in BM-C-33 and applying our offshore and operating skills on this high impact discovery.”
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.
Image: Photo from Statoil/Harald Pettersen.
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