Page 10 - EurOil Week 04 2021

EurOil INVESTMENT EurOil

EnQuest snaps up stake in

Equinor heavy oilfield

NORWAY LONDON-LISTED oil producer EnQuest has The Norwegian company has gained exper-
wrapped up the acquisition of a 40.8% interest tise in heavy oil development from the Mariner
Bressay has 1bn barrels in the Bressay oilfield from Norway’s Equinor field, brought on stream in 2019. But the field is
of oil in place but is for $18mn. understood to be even more complex than Mar-
geologically challenging. Bressay, situated east of the Shetland Islands, iner, which cost $8.8bn to bring to production.
has around 1bn barrels of oil in place (OIP), Equinor is also looking to draw from EnQuest’s
making it one of the largest undeveloped fields experience at Kraken, another heavy oil project.
on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). But the EnQuest is eager to replenish its resources,
heavy oilfield is also known for its significant having decommissioned its Thistle and Heather
complexity. Equinor has received an initial platforms last year and opted for early shut-
GBP2.2mn ($2.9mn), and a further $15mn downs at the mature Don and Alma-Galia fields.
is payable once Bressay’s development plan is Kraken, which the company operates with a 70%
approved by UK authorities. interest, recently entered decline less than four
Equinor retains a further 40.8% stake, while years after its launch.
North Sea-focused Chrysaor has 18.4%. EnQuest has said it is considering tying Bres-
Edinburgh-based Wood Mackenzie has esti- say back to the Kraken floating production stor-
mated that up to 200mn barrels of crude could age and offloading (FPSO) unit. Gas produced at
be recovered from the heavy oilfield, first discov- Bressay can be used as fuel for the vessel.
ered in 1976. Equinor entered the project in 2007 The deal, first announced in August, has also
but has so far held off on development. established EnQuest as Bressay’s operator. ™

Sonangol will keep its

stake in Galp: CEO

PORTUGAL SEBASTIÃO Gaspar Martins, the CEO of Ango- Amorim Group, and 45% to an offshore hold-
la’s national oil company (NOC) Sonangol, has ing known as Esperanza. This holding, in turn,
Sebastião Gaspar said that his company does not intend to sell its is owned jointly by Sonangol and Isabel dos
Martins, the CEO stake in Portugal’s Galp Energia. Santos, Africa’s richest woman and the daughter
of Angola’s national In an interview with the Portuguese daily of Angola’s former president, José Eduardo dos
oil company (NOC) Diário de Notícias, Martins said that Sonangol’s Santos.
Sonangol, has said 33.34% stake in Galp had not been included in Isabel dos Santos served as chairwoman of
that his company the government’s privatisation programme, Sonangol until 2017, when her father left office.
does not intend to sell known as ProPriv. He stated that the NOC She is suspected of using her position at the NOC
its minority stake in intended to keep this asset, which he described to enrich herself and has been formally accused
Portugal’s Galp Energia. as “strategic.” by the Angolan government of mismanagement
The CEO did not give a reason for the deci- and misappropriation of funds. Martins said in
sion to exclude the Galp stake from ProPriv. He December that Sonangol considered itself to
has said repeatedly that his company will not sell. be a “potentially injured party” with respect to
Sonangol controls this asset through a com- these allegations, but dos Santos has denied any
plicated arrangement involving Amorim Ener- wrongdoing.
gia, a subsidiary of the Amorim Group, which Under the ProPriv initiative, Sonangol has
is the world’s leading cork producer. (The group been ordered to divest 70 non-core assets by the
also owns 19% in Banco Comercial Português, a end of 2022. The NOC is also slated for partial
Portuguese financial institution known as Mil- privatisation, and Angolan Finance Minister
lenium bcp.) Vera Daves de Sousa has said that Luanda hopes
Equity in Amorim Energia is split 55% to to list some of the NOC’s shares before the mid-
Américo Amorim, the current head of the dle of next year. ™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 04 28•January•2021