– Sequa Petroleum N.V. acquires 15% of the Gina Krog unit from Total through its Norwegian subsidiary Tellus Petroleum AS in a new transaction
LONDON, Oct. 19, 2015 /CNW/ – Sequa Petroleum N.V. (“Sequa”) is pleased to announce that its subsidiary Tellus Petroleum AS (“Tellus”) has entered into an agreement with Total E&P Norge AS to purchase interests of 30% in PL 029C, 14.78% in PL 029C and 21.8% in PL 048, representing 15% in the Gina Krog unit on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The effective date of the transaction is 1st January 2015 and the transaction is subject to normal consent by the Norwegian Authorities. The transaction is planned to be funded through a combination of debt and equity, with completion planned for the end of 2015 contemporaneously with the completion of the Wintershall portfolio transaction, as announced on 18th June 2015.
The proven and probable (2P) reserves in the transaction is some 33 mill. boe net to Tellus as per the official Norwegian Petroleum Directorate data. The field is operated by Statoil (58.7%) and partners are Total (30%), PGNiG (8%) and Det norske (3.3%). The production is expected to commence in mid-2017 ramping up to a plateau of some 10,000 boed net to Tellus. The Plan for Development and Operation (“PDO”) was approved in June 2013 and gross capex on Gina Krog is some NOK 32 billion.
In the transaction, it is agreed that Tellus will pay a completion payment of ca NOK 1.4 billion pre-tax based on the latest operator project cost estimates for Total’s share in 2015. The seller will retain the tax balances related to the Gina Krog investments prior to the effective date. On signing, Tellus paid a deposit of NOK 50 million to Total. On this basis for the Sequa Petroleum group, the all-in costs until first production for Gina Krog will be 11 USD/boe pre-tax.
This transaction is a positive addition to the portfolio purchase agreement with Wintershall, announced in June. Gina Krog provides the company with a further high quality asset in our core North Sea area, with a production start date between Ivar Aasen and Maria. Once in production, the field will provide cash-flow that will enable further company growth. The deal delivers on Sequa and Tellus’s strategy of rapid growth through acquiring high quality material assets that are in production or being moved through development into production.
About the Companies:
Tellus Petroleum AS was established in 2012 by a group of entrepreneurs, with backgrounds from Saga Petroleum, Phillips Petroleum, Norsk Hydro, Hess and PetroAdvisor, as an independent Norwegian upstream oil & gas company with sole focus on the NCS. Tellus’ strategy is to establish and further enhance the value of a portfolio of interests in producing fields and small to medium sized discoveries/developments. Tellus announced they had signed an agreement to purchase an asset portfolio from Wintershall in June 2015 consisting of Knarr (20%), Ivar Aasen (15%), Maria (15%) and Veslefrikk (4.5%) on the NCS. Concurrent with the Wintershall transaction, Tellus became a subsidiary of Sequa Petroleum N.V. on 24thSeptember 2015.
Sequa Petroleum N.V. is an oil and gas company listed on Euronext Marché Libre which focuses on taking discovered oil and gas reserves and resources from appraisal through to production. Sequa Petroleum has assembled a highly experienced management team with a proven track record and expertise in exploration, appraisal, development and production of oil and gas assets, both onshore and offshore, in jurisdictions around the globe. Sequa Petroleum is supported by a strong and dedicated shareholder base, which includes its entire senior management team as well as the privately owned Principal Investment holding company Sapinda Holding BV. Sequa Petroleum pursues mid-sized discoveries that have not yet been fully developed for a number of reasons, e.g. commercialisation approach, technology application or lack of capital and Sequa aim to unlock opportunities and realise their potential value.
Total Exploration and Production Norge AS has been present in Norway for fifty years and has played a major role in the development of a number of large fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Total holds interests in 97 production licenses, 31 of which it operates. The affiliate Total E&P Norge AS is one of the largest contributors to the Total Group’s equity production and produced 242,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2014.
Gina Krog is an oil and gas field located 250 kilometres west of Stavanger and 30 kilometres northwest of the Sleipner A installation. The water depth is 110 – 120 metres. The development solution is a new steel platform on a jacket substructure similar to nearby Edvard Grieg and Ivar Aasen development projects. The Gina Krog jacket was installed in June 2015 and pre-drilling commenced in July 2015 using the Maersk Integrator jack-up rig. The Gina Krog oil will be transported to a storage vessel (FSU) with a capacity of 850,000 barrels for off-loading to shuttle tankers. The rich gas will be transported to Sleipner for processing and onto Gassled for export. Condensate and NGL will be exported via Sleipner to Kårstø, in Norway.
