OKEA ASA will purchase interests in certain North Sea fields from Wintershall Dea Norge AS for an initial cash consideration of $117.5 million plus an additional contingent consideration based on an upside sharing arrangement subject to oil price and oil production during the period 2022-24.
The assets comprise three high quality oil fields, all in the Norwegian North Sea, with expected combined net production of 5,000–6,000 boe/d in 2022 and net 2P reserves of 13.2 MMboe, OKEA said in a release May 23.
Brage and Ivar Aasen are producing assets, while Nova field is expected to begin production in this year's third quarter as a subsea tie-back to the Gjøa platform (OKEA 12% WI).
Through the deal, OKEA will acquire Wintershall's entire 35.2% share in Brage and become operator. Wintershall will retain responsibility for 80% of OKEA’s share of total decommissioning costs related to the Brage unit, OKEA said in the release.
OKEA will increase its net interest in Aker BP-operated Ivar Aasen field to 9.2385% from 2.777%. The field has been developed with an integrated production, drilling, and accommodation facility with a steel jacket. Oil is transported by pipeline to Oseberg field and further through the Oseberg Transport System (OTS) pipeline to the Sture terminal. A gas pipeline is tied-back to Statpipe.
Ivar Aasen lies in water depth of 110 m in the northern part of the North Sea, 30 km south of Grane and Balder. Development includes a production, drilling, and housing facility with a steel substructure and a separate jackup rig for drilling and completion. The field is powered by electricity from Edvard Grieg and will be supplied with power from shore as part of the joint development of Utsira High expected to commence late 2022.
Wintershall-operated Nova field lies in the northern part of the North Sea, 45 km west of Florø and 17 km southwest of Gjøa field in water depth of 370 m. Upon closing, OKEA will own 6% of Nova. Development consists of two four-slot subsea templates tied back to the Gjøa host platform where Nova will be provided with green power from shore. The subsea installation scope was finalized in 2021.Upon production start, the well stream will be routed to the Gjøa platform for processing and export. Oil will be transported further through the Troll Oil Pipeline II to the Mongstad terminal, and the gas will be exported via the Far North Liquids and Associated Gas System (FLAGS) pipeline to St Fergus in the UK.
Subject to customary authority approval, the deal is expected to close in fourth-quarter 2022.
Alex Procyk | Upstream Editor
Alex Procyk is Upstream Editor at Oil & Gas Journal. He has also served as a principal technical professional at Halliburton and as a completion engineer at ConocoPhillips. He holds a BS in chemistry (1987) from Kent State University and a PhD in chemistry (1992) from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).