Gulf Keystone debt restructuring

On 14th July, Gulf Keystone announced the terms of its proposed balance sheet restructuring, marking the culmination of months of discussions with the company's debt holders. The restructuring, if approved by shareholders, will be implemented by way of a debt-for-equity swap and will see existing shareholders significantly diluted. The company has c.USD600 million of debt, comprising USD335 million of Convertible Bonds and USD266 million...

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Brasse - Brage's younger sibling

On 11th July, Faroe announced the completion of a successful side-track appraisal well on the Brasse discovery in PL740 (50% WI) in the Norwegian North Sea and revised volume estimates for the discovery. The objective of the Brasse side-track well was to appraise the south-eastern part of the structure previously identified by the main discovery well. The side-track reached a depth of c.2,530m and encountered a 25m gross oil column and a 6m gross...

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Det Norske-BP: the Norwegian megaforce

On 10th June, Det Norske announced that it will merge with BP Norge through a share purchase transaction to create the leading independent E&P company on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The company will be renamed Aker BP, with Aker and BP as main industrial shareholders holding 40% and 30% of the company respectively; the remaining 30% in Aker BP will be held by Det Norske’s other current shareholders. Note that Aker is currently Det Norske’s...

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Barents Sea licence awards

The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has issued ten new production licences in the Barents Sea as part of Norway’s 23rd licencing round, following applications made by 26 companies in January. This is the first time since 1994 that new exploration acreage has been made available to the industry in the southeastern Barents Sea.  From the International E&P names: Lundin has been awarded interests in five licences (three...

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Statoil acquires a further stake in Lundin Petroleum

On 14th January, Statoil announced that it had acquired 37.1 million shares in Lundin Petroleum, corresponding to 11.9% of the company. Statoil says that it paid c.SEK4.6 billion for the shares, which equates to a price of SEK120/share or a 28% premium to the share price close as of yesterday at SEK97. Statoil purchased the shares over the past few weeks and says it is supportive of Lundin management, its board of directors and strategy, but there...

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Ophir's Fortuna farm-out terminated

On 29th April 2016, Ophir announced that it had terminated its Fortuna farm-out discussions with Schlumberger. Back in January, Ophir announced that it had entered into a non-binding Heads of Terms Agreement with Schlumberger for upstream participation in the Fortuna FLNG development that would result in the oilfield service company carrying Ophir to first oil. However, the two companies have been unable to complete the transaction on the terms...

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Gran Tierra the Consolidator

On 30 March, Gran Tierra announced the private offering of USD100 million convertible notes which successfully closed on 6 April. The new funds will allow Gran Tierra to accelerate its exploration programme and places the company in a strong position to act as consolidator in Colombia. Gran Tierra completed two acquisitions in Q1 2016, building out its portfolio particularly in the Putumayo Basin of southern Colombia and supplementing its interests in the Costayaco and Moqueta fields. With development drilling on Costayaco and Moqueta due to end...

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