Offshore staff
LONDON – Premier Oil has confirmed that it has agreed to sell its interests in UK licenses PL089 and P534, containing the Wytch Farm oil field, to Verus Petroleum SNS for $200 million.
In addition, Premier will be able to transfer Letters of Credit totaling around $75 million related to future decommissioning liabilities to Verus.
Wytch Farm is a large oil field onshore and offshore the Dorset coast in southwest England which started production in 1979. It has been developed with 11 well sites linked to a central onshore gathering station, with extended reach wells into the offshore areas, and is currently operated by Perenco UK.
Production is exported via pipeline to the Hamble terminal near Southampton for tanker loading.
Premier acquired a 12.4% interest in Wytch Farm in 1984 and in December 2011 took an additional 17.7% interest from Perenco UK, followed by a further 3.7% fromMaersk Oil North Sea UK earlier this year.
As of Dec. 31, 2016, Premier’s net estimated 2P reserves in Wytch Farm were 14.9 MMboe.
The company will use the proceeds of the transaction to pay down its existing debt, with Verus agreeing to assume all of the abandonment liabilities and associated decommissioning security.
09/12/2017
