Endeavour endangers Alba sale for Statoil and Mitsui

Statoil and Mitsui started marketing their stakes in the Alba heavy oil field in the North Sea at the end of 2017. The field is located in a complex reservoir and developed from a steel platform tied to a floating storage unit.

The field has been marketed by partner Endeavour before without success. Endeavour put its stake up for sale in 2015 but failed to attract sufficient interest.

Sources have revealed that interest in the current sales effort is also thin with potential buyers raising a number of concerns:

Non-operated stake Both Statoil (17%) and Mitsui (13.3%) hold non-operated stakes. The operator is Chevron with 23.4%. This limits the new owner’s ability to implement efficiencies, especially as neither on their own or combined have a controlling stake. Chevron is a decent operator, but being a “major” inevitably means inefficiencies and costs creeping in. This is why the likes of BP have passed assets onto more nimble E&Ps who they know can run assets more efficiently.

Limited upside The field has been producing since 1994 and approaching end of life. Production could continue into the late 2020s but at increasingly insignificant volumes. In 2016, Alba produced at 15.3mbopd which compares to a peak of 80-90mbopd in the early 2000s. In 2014, Chevron undertook a 4D seismic survey to identify infill targets – although infill drilling could continue, Chevron has not committed to a full drilling programme of the prospects. Furthermore, Chevron is divided on its view of the North Sea portfolio – it is a good collection of assets generating good cash flow for North America but at the same time focus is turning to the US onshore. With Chevron’s new CEO Mike Wirth coming onboard in February and his background in downstream, the desire to put capital into the North Sea remains in question.

Decommissioning With a large number of wells and a steel platform, decommissioning will be a complex and high cost exercise – no small endeavour for a buyer to take on. Costs are currently estimated at c.USD750 million in real terms and could go up with the blanket of decommissioning activity coming up in the North Sea.

Endeavour bankruptcy Endeavour is the largest partner at 25.7%. Its US parent company entered into financial restructuring and the UK business is under creditor protection. The UK subsidiary Endeavour Energy UK Limited holds the interest in the field and still has debts of close to USD1 billion. The UK business is in default and the lenders, primarily Credit Suisse, have so far have extended repayment deadlines. However, if the lenders pull the plug on the business in light of Alba continuing to be loss making (per latest financial statements), then the remaining partners in the field will be compelled to take on additional stakes in Alba pro rata. This is a risk to a potential new owner and would increase exposure to future capex and decommissioning.

From the buyer feedback, it is clear why Statoil and Mitsui want to exit the asset. For Statoil, the UK North Sea is becoming less of a focus apart from its remaining large developments. For Mitsui its UK strategy appears to be retreat. Whether a sale goes ahead or not remains to be seen.

UPDATE 24 March 2018: Bidders pull out of Alba sale by Statoil and Mitsui