Offshore staff
SANDNES, Norway – Vår Energi says it will become the second largest E&P company on the Norwegian shelf after Equinor, following its $4.5-billion transaction for ExxonMobil’s upstream Norway interests.
The deal, set to close later this year, includes shares of some of Norway’s largest producing fields such as Grane, Snorre, Ormen Lange, Statfjord and Fram, with a combined production of around 150,000 boe/d.
Vår will then have total reserves and resources of around 1,900 MMboe, total production in 2019 of close to 300,000 boe/d, with targeted output of more than 350,000 boe/d in 2023, driven by new contributions from Johan Castberg in the Barents Sea, Snorre Expansion and Balder X in the North Sea, Fenja in the Norwegian Sea, and another project named Grand.
Most of ExxonMobil’s 50 or so employees working on the acquired assets will join Vår.
Wood Mackenzie claimed this was Norway’s biggest deal since the Statoil-Norsk Hydro merger in 2006. The consultant’s principal analyst Neivan Boroujerdi said: “We think ExxonMobil has achieved an attractive exit price.
“It reaffirms that Norway is still one of the most competitive M&A markets in the world. It also reflects the attractiveness of the high cash-generative portfolio.”
He added: “ExxonMobil’s exit brings an end to one of the industry’s longest running stories - the supermajor was awarded the first license ever awarded on the Norwegian continental shelf.”
Norway had been a core stronghold for the company but as it embarked on a period of portfolio rationalization, like numerous other majors, it decided the time was right to move on its Norwegian interests. The process started with the sale in 2017 of various operated North Sea fields to Point Resources, which later merged with Eni to form Vår.
09/27/2019
