Lundin acquires additional 25% interest in Wisting development
Lundin Energy Norway AS has agreed to acquire OMV (Norge) AS’s entire 25% working interest in the Wisting development in the southern Barents Sea for $320 million. A contingent payment of up to $20 million depends on final project CAPEX.
The deal takes Lundin Energy’s working interest to 35% from 10% in the 500 million bbl oil development and adds net 130 MMboe fully appraised contingent resources.
Wisting oil field is in the Hoop area of the Barents Sea in PL 537 and 537B, about 310 km from the mainland of Norway. Six wells are drilled to date. The sixth and latest appraisal well (Wisting Central III) was drilled in 2017. Planned start of Wisting production is 2028.
Concept selection is anticipated shortly and submission of the plan for development and operation (PDO) is targeted by end 2022 to qualify for temporary tax incentives established by the Norwegian Government in June 2020.
In addition to the stake in Wisting, Lundin holds surrounding acreage estimated to hold gross unrisked prospective resources of a further 500 million bbl of oil, the company said.
The transaction is subject to customary Norwegian regulatory approvals and is expected to complete in this year’s fourth quarter.
Wisting partners are Equinor (35%), Petoro (20%), and Idemitsu (10%). Equinor is the operator during the development phase and operatorship is planned to transfer to OMV for the operations phase. Prior to completion of the transaction, the company will work with the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and license partners, to clarify arrangements for the operations phase, Lundin said.
