Offshore staff
ABERDEEN -- Petrofac and Lundin Petroleum plan to de-merge their UK North Sea interests, forming a new independent E&P company called EnQuest.
Under the proposal, Petrofac will own 45% of the shares of the new company, the remaining 55% held by Lundin.
EnQuest’s portfolio will comprise operated interests in the producing northern North Sea fields Heather, Broom, Thistle, Deveron, Don Southwest, and West Don. It will also operate the Peik, South West Heather, Scolty, and Elke discoveries. These will be ceded by the two current owners on a cash-free, debt-free basis.
Petrofac and Lundin have been cooperating for some time on switching production from Don Southwest and Don West (both operated by Petrofac) through Lundin’s Thistle facilities.
The new company will start with total net 2P oil and natural gas liquids reserves of 80.5 MMboe. It has also identified five further exploration opportunities, all independently reviewed by Gaffney Cline Associates.
Amjad Bseisu, currently chief executive of Petrofac’s Energy Developments division, will be CEO of EnQuest. James Buckee and Nigel Hares, both formerly with Talisman Energy in Canada, will be respectively non-executive chairman and COO.
EnQuest’s strategy will be to focus on low-risk development opportunities via existing infrastructure. Its aim is year-on-year production growth of 10% from its UKCS activities, to be achieved partly through acquisitions, via farm-ins, or acquiring assets put up for sale by major oil company operators.
3/8/2010