UK Offshore Wind CFD Strike Prices for AR6/2024

The UK has increased offshore wind maximum strike prices to £73/MWh for fixed-bottom offshore wind installations for the 2024 AR6 Allocation Round.This is a substantial increase from the £44/MWh set for the AR5 round in 2023 which was too low to attract bids with no capacity being awarded to offshore wind.The higher price is designed to compensate for a higher cost and interest rate environment.Source: S&Phttps://www.spglobal.com/marketintel...

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Jersey Oil & Gas next in line to be Canned?

 Following the UK Government's rejection to approve the Cambo development in the West of Shetlands, leading to Shell's exit from the field, and the scrapping of the Rosebank development by Equinor, it is clear that the UK Government is increasingly turning its focus away from North Sea Oil & Gas. The UK Government is laser focused on the Energy Transition and is supporting the renewable energy development, hydrogen and carbon capture.Against...

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Hibiscus acquires 85% interest in Eagle to consolidate around Anasuria

Hibiscus has announced that its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Anasuria Hibiscus UK ('AHUK') has executed a Sale & Purchase Agreement ('SPA') with EnQuest in respect of certain interests in the UK Continental Shelf Petroleum Production Licence Number P238 Block 21/19a, Eagle Pre-Producing Area ('Eagle Field'). The Eagle Field is located approx. 6.4 km to 15 km from various Anasuria facilities, and due to its proximity, facilitates a potential...

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Long awaited deal finally announced: NEO acquires ExxonMobil UK

NEO Energy and HitecVision have announced the signing of a transaction that puts NEO Energy among the top five oil and gas companies in the UK.NEO Energy is acquiring a major portfolio of non-operated oil and gas assets in the Central and Northern North Sea from ExxonMobil. Following completion, NEO’s expected proforma 2021 production will be circa 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), growing organically to more than 80,000 boepd in...

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Total Makes a New Gas and Condensates Discovery in the North Sea

Total, Operator, and its partners have made an encouraging discovery with the Isabella 30/12d-11 well on the license P1820, located in the Central North Sea offshore UK, about 40 kms south of the Elgin-Franklin field and 170 kms east of Aberdeen. The well was drilled in a water depth of about 80 meters and encountered 64 meters net pay of lean gas and condensate and high-quality light oil, in Upper Jurassic and Triassic sandstone reservoirs....

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Blackrock and GIC acquires critical North Sea gas infrastructure

Blackrock and GIC have announced the acquisition of Kellas Midstream from Antin. Antin was expected to launch an auction process for Kellas Midstream at the end of the year and it appears that Blackrock and GIC moved quickly and were able to agree a deal ahead of the formal auction. No sale price was disclosed but believed to be in the range of £1.4-2.0 billion. There will be a number of disappointed parties out there who were lining themselves...

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Mediocre week for UK exploration

This week saw a disappointing well result in Rowallan and a mediocre result in Verbier. Rowallan The keenly watched wildcat drilled at the Rowallan prospect "was not found to be hydrocarbon-bearing”. The 22/19c-7 well was targeting 143mmbbl in a structural fault and dip-closed trap analogous to Total’s Culzean field 20km away. The well encountered a 182m section of sandstone and shale after being drilled to a depth of 4,641m . The Dundonald...

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Maria, you've gotta see her!

Wintershall has shut-in the Maria field since February, approximately a year after first production, following poor production performance. It is understood that reserves have been downgraded from 207mmbbl to c.60 mmbbl. The field is now undergoing testing and monitoring to see how best to produce the remaining reserves the recover the lost reserves whilst managing the reservoir. It is understood that the NPD has to review plans and sign off...

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Cluff extends farm-out exclusivity in Southern North Sea to Major

Cluff Natural Resources press release Further to its announcement on 28 November 2018, Cluff Natural Resources Plc, the AIM quoted natural resources investing company with a high impact exploration and appraisal portfolio focused on the Southern North Sea gas basin, provides an update regarding its exclusivity agreement with a major oil and gas company for its Southern North Sea Gas licence P2252. As previously announced, the Company signed an...

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UK North Sea gets shot in the arm with Glengorm

CNOOC, Total and Edison have made one of the biggest finds in the UK North Sea in recent years. The Glengorm discovery is estimated to contain recoverable resources of 250mmboe which is even bigger than Total’s recent success in the West of Shetlands at Glendronach which had 1tcf of gas (c.160mmboe). Glengorm sits on licence P2215 and in the vicinity of both the Culzean and Elgin & Franklin gas fields which could act as future hosts for Glengorm. Glengorm...

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INEOS swoops in for Conoco North Sea

As widely reported over the weekend, INEOS is the front-runner for the ConocoPhillips’ UK North Sea portfolio. ConocoPhillips had a buyer for the portfolio back in 2015, but pulled the deal citing that it had no desire to sell-out at the bottom of oil price cycle, INEOS has beaten other likely UK North Sea focussed contenders which could include Ithaca Energy, Premier Oil, Neptune Energy, Chrysaor and SiccarPoint. The sale, estimated to be around...

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PGNiG expands footprint in Norway

On 18th October PGNiG announced that it had agreed to acquire Equinor's interest in the Tommeliten Alpha gas and condensate field in the Norwegian North Sea. This continues PGNiG's strategy of diversifying its gas supply away from Russia. PGNiG has always had an interest in Norwegian gas seeing it as as logical and accessible source of gas for Poland. As the long term Russian gas supply contracts come to expiry, PGNiG is making bold moves to...

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PGNiG shuns Russian gas

PGNiG is increasingly boldening its signals on shunning Russian gas as it turns to the west. The Polish state has historically been dependent on gas imports from its eastern neighbour but is looking to loosen its reliance to the communist state. Poland consumes around 17 bcm of gas annually, more than half of which comes from Gazprom under a long-term contract that expires in 2022. It is seeing the upcoming expiry as the opportunity to diversify...

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EnQuest acquires remaining Magnus stake

EnQuest has exercised its option to acquire the remaining 75% interest in Magnus from BP, together with an increase in the interests of the Sullom Voe Terminal (to 15.1%), Ninian Pipeline System (to 18.0%) and Northern Leg Gas Pipeline (to 41.9%). The transaction will add c.60mmboe of 2P reserves and 10mmboe of 2C resources. To fund the transaction, EnQuest is looking to raise USD138 million in a 3-for-7 rights issue at 21p/share, which represents a 46% discount to the closing share price of 6 September 20...

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Total sells Norweigian assets to AkerBP for USD205 million

Total has agreed to sell interests in a portfolio of 11 licences in Norway to AkerBP for a cash consideration of USD205 million. The portfolio includes four discoveries with net recoverable resources of 83mmboe. The acquisition allows AkerBP to consolidate its position around the Alvheim, NOAKA and Skarv hubs as well as adding exploration acreage near its operated Ula field (AkerBP 80%). Increasing stakes in fields and discoveries and having...

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ConocoPhillips' mix of a North Sea portfolio

ConocoPhillips' is one of the largest operators in the UK North Sea, being the operator of the Britannia area, the J-Area and large swathes of the Southern North Sea. ConocoPhillips is also a non-operated partner in the giant Clair field. Clair is one of the largest oil fields in the UK offshore and located in the West of Shetlands which is making a name for being the last frontier of the UK and is increasingly attracting further exploration...

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RockRose acquires Dyas' Netherlands portfolio for €107 million

RockRose has announced the acquisition of Dyas' Dutch portfolio for €107 million. Press release follows: RockRose Energy plc is pleased to announce that it has signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Dyas B.V. (the "Acquisition"), which owns the non-operated, Netherlands gas and condensate producing assets of the Dyas group of companies, for a total consideration of EUR €107 million....

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Bidders pull out of Alba sale by Statoil and Mitsui

Deloitte has launched the sale of Endeavour Energy UK. The US parent company of Endeavour Energy UK is going through bankruptcy proceedings and Deloitte has been appointed to monetise the company’s UK unit. Endeavour Energy UK owns a 25.7% in Alba amongst other North Sea assets. This is larger than Statoil’s 17% or Mitsui’s 13.3% stake which is being marketed. Although Statoil and Mitsui have been trying to sell their stakes since the end of...

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Chevron shuts in Alba platform as Mitsui and Statoil try to sell the field

Chevron the operator of the Alba field in the UK North Sea has announced at the end of last week that it had been forced to shut down production at the field. This follows a power outage at the platform. Emergency back-up power is in place and the crew continues to try and restore power. The mature heavy oil field which was brought onstream in 1994 is exploited from a fixed platform tied to a floating storage unit. Endeavour had tried to sell...

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EnQuest agrees Thistle decommissioning with BP

Following on from last year's acquisition from BP, EnQuest has agreed with BP to undertake the management of the decommissioning activities for Thistle and Deveron. EnQuest will receive USD30 million in cash for management of the decommissioning and for taking on 3.7% of the gross decommissioning costs of the Thistle and Deveron fields, subject to a cap of USD80 million. EnQuest estimates its exposure to costs is currently less than the cash being received. EnQuest also has an option, exercisable over a 12-month period, to receive a further USD20...

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