Offshore staff
STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Lundin Energy Norway has agreed to acquire interests held by Idemitsu Petroleum Norge in various licenses in the southern Barents Sea.
These include a 10% stake in the OMV-operated Wisting oil discovery and a further 15% in the Lundin-operated Alta oil discovery.
Wisting, in licenses PL537 and PL537B, holds estimated resources of 500 MMbbl.
Equinor, as operator for the development phase, is targeting submission of a plan for development and operation by end-2022, capitalizing on the temporary tax incentives introduced by the Norwegian government this summer.
The transaction with Idemitsu also gives Lundin a further 15% share of licenses PL609, PL609B and PL609D, increasing its position in Alta to 55%. Currently plans are in hand to accelerate development of Alta, again to benefit from the tax incentives.
In addition, Lundin raises its operated interests in PL609C and PL851 to 47.5%. These concessions include the 400-MMbbl Polmak prospect, east of Equinor’s Johan Castberg development.
The semisubmersible West Bollsta will shortly spud a well on Polmak, the first of three high-impact wildcats for Lundin in the Barents Sea in the current quarter, targeting total prospective resources of more than 800 MMbbl.
Subject to board and regulatory approvals, Lundin will pay Idemitsu a cash consideration of $125 million, receiving estimated net contingent resources of around 70 MMboe.
10/05/2020
