A joint venture (JV) comprising two companies, both led by former BP group chief executives, has agreed to buy stakes in two blocks offshore Angola.
The JV has been formed by Genel Energy, whose chief executive is ex-BP exec Tony Hayward (pictured right), and White Rose Energy Ventures (WREV), whose chairman is Lord Browne of Madingly, also a former BP group chief executive.
The JV has agreed to acquire 15% working interests in Blocks 38 and 39 offshore Angola. Blocks 38 and 39 are in the Kwanza basin and cover about 14,000sq km in 1500-2,500m water depth.
Genel says the play has already been de-risked by exploration drilling in Angola and in the directly analogous Santos and Campos Basins offshore Brazil.
"A working hydrocarbon system has already been established in the Kwanza basin through the Cameia, Lontra, Mavinga, Bicuar, Orca, and Azul discoveries, which are located on licenses directly adjacent to Blocks 38 and 39," the firm says.
The Stena Carron drillship has been contracted for a drilling program, starting on the Dilolo prospect in Block 39, starting in Q2 2014. The first well on Block 38 is scheduled to follow the Block 39 well.
The interests will be acquired through two separate transactions. In each transaction, a 15% working interest will be acquired by a 50/50 Genel/WREV joint venture company.
In Block 38, the 15% working interest will be acquired from China Sonangol for US$59m ($30m net to Genel), representing a pro rata share of past costs.
In Block 39, the 15% working interest will be acquired from the operator, Statoil Angola Block 39 AS for a pro rata share of past costs and a partial carry of Statoil’s share of the first exploration well, for a total consideration value of $222m (US$111m net to Genel).
Completion of the acquisition is subject to Angolan government and Block partner approvals.
On completion, the interests in Blocks 38 and 39 are expected to be:
Lord Browne of Madingley is also a partner of Riverstone Holdings. Prior to joining Riverstone in 2007, he spent 41 years at BP where he was Group Chief Executive from 1995-2007. He is the UK Government’s lead non-executive board member, the chairman of the Trustees of Tate, the chairman of the Trustees of the Queen Elizabeth II Prize for Engineering, chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, and a member of a variety of other trusts and boards. He is a former President of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He was knighted in 1998 and made a life peer in 2001. He holds degrees from Cambridge and Stanford Universities.
Tony Hayward was appointed to Genel's board as non-executive director on 2 June 2011, and as an executive director and Chief Executive Officer on 21 November 2011. Hayward is the interim non-executive chairman at Glencore Xstrata, a partner and member of the advisory board of AEA Capital and a member of the advisory board of Numis Corporation. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Edinburgh, Aston University, and the University of Birmingham. He has also served on the Board of TNK-BP, Corus and Tata Steel. Hayward was Group Chief Executive of BP from 2007-2010, having joined BP in 1982, as a rig geologist in the North Sea. Following a series of technical and commercial roles in Europe, Asia, and South America, he returned to London in 1997 as a member of the upstream executive committee. He became group treasurer in 2000, Chief Executive for BP’s upstream activities, and a member of the main board of BP in 2003. Hayward studied Geology at Aston University in Birmingham and holds a PhD from Edinburgh University.
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