Offshore staff
LONDON – Petroleum Equity, a new upstream oil and gas private equity company, has acquired ATP Oil & Gas (UK) from Houston-based ATP Oil & Gas Corp. for $133 million.
The latter filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code in 2012 following a multi-billion dollar insolvency, and started a sale process for its UK subsidiary.
The US Court approved Petroleum Equity’s transaction on Dec. 19, with additional ratification from shareholders last Friday. The acquisition is expected to be completed next month.
ATP UK’s offshore assets include four producing southernNorth Sea gas fields, potential oil field developments in the northern North Sea, and operator status on all its producing and developing fields. Various legacy liabilities totaling more than $1.2 billion have been compromised as part of the acquisition and the management team will remain.
Sven Tiefenthal, founding partner at Petroleum Equity, said: “We have acquired a robust portfolio with operated net 2P reserves of more than 65 MMboe…In addition there are substantial additional resources yet to be matured, all of this in a politically and fiscally stable environment.”
Daniel Reis, another partner, said: “This was a complex transaction due to the nature of the assets, the cross-border restructuring process, and the need to acquire ATP UK from its insolvent parent company. We have been extremely impressed with how ATP’s management team has held the business together over this period and continued being a first-class operator in the UKCS in face of the challenges. With our backing, ATP will have the financial and technical support required to execute its business plan, secure development authorization, and bring new fields to production.”
01/13/2014
