Page 13 - EurOil Week 21 2021

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

Aussie junior expands UK footprint

UK AUSTRALIAN junior Finder Energy has picked East Shetland basin in the northern North Sea
up two “highly prospective” UK North Sea-op- and is 424 square km in size. It “holds significant
This is Finder’s second erated licences from London-headquartered potential in the Upper Jurassic turbidite play
deal of the year in the Azinor Catalyst, the company said on May 21, with over 1.2bn barrels of oil equivalent [boe]
UK North Sea. without disclosing a sales price. identified across 11 mapped leads,” Finder said.
Finder will replace Azinor as operator of P2524 covers a 171-square km area on the south-
licences P2502 and P2524, acquiring working ern flank of the South Viking Graben in the cen-
interests of 100% and 40% respectively. The pur- tral North Sea.
chases come after Finder’s entry into the UK ear- “The leading prospect on the licence is
lier this year, when it obtained the P2528 licence Barracuda targeting the same Upper Jurassic
after bidding successfully in the country’s 32nd reservoir that hosts the nearby prolific T-Block
licensing round. and Brae complex oilfields,” Finder explained.
CEO Damon Neaves said the acquisi- “In addition to the Barracuda prospect, the
tions were the company’s strategy to obtain licence contains a further three prospects
“high-quality” exploration acreage near discov- and leads and two small oil and condensate
eries and infrastructure. discoveries.”
“We expect to announce further North Sea The remaining 60% interest in P2524 is
acquisitions as well as new partnerships in the held by Harbour Energy, recently formed from
near future,” he said, adding that former Azinor the merger of North Sea rivals Premier and
co-founders Nick Terrell and Henry Morris Chrysoar.
would be joining Finder as directors. Terrell will In Australia, Finder is one of the largest
serve as UK country manager at Finder, while exploration permit holders on the country’s
Morris will work as UK business development North West Shelf, with interests in eight permits
manager. in the Northern Carnarvon, Northern Browse
P2502 is situated on the western edge of the and Bonaparte basins. ™

JX Nippon mulls UK North

Sea departure

UK JAPAN’S JX Nippon is reportedly the latest reported to be seeking a withdrawal from the
North Sea player to be considering divestments country.
The largest of the on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), including Marubeni is looking to offload its 41%
projects is Culzean, the sale of stakes in some of the biggest fields in non-operated interest in the Montrose-Arbroath
with 300mn boe in the mature region. area, situated in the Central North Sea. The area
reserves. The company has hired Bank of America contains the Montrose, Arbroath, Arkwight,
and Kirk Lovegrove as advisors for the sale, Brechin, Wood, Godwin, Cayley and Shaw
which will include JX Nippon’s positions in the fields, which together flowed 24,000 boepd in
Andrew, Culzean and Mariner projects, Reuters the first nine months of 2020.
sources have said. It is partnered at these fields Other Japanese players Idemitsu Kosan and
with BP, France’s Total and Norway’s Equinor Itochu already left the country in recent years.
respectively. The recovery in oil prices since coroanvirus
The largest of the projects is Culzean, which (COVID-19) lows has spurred a wave of merger
has 300mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in and acquisition activity in the North Sea, mostly
reserves and can supply up to 5% of UK gas in UK waters. Many of the buyers so far have
demand. JX Nippon also holds stakes in the been backed by private equity, including NEO
Burghley, Kinnoull, Farragon, Brae, Beinn and Energy, which is set to acquire ExxonMobil’s
Breamar fields, as well as interests in two blocks North Sea portfolio for over $1bn. Tailwind
near Culzean. Energy, another private equity-support firm,
JX Nippon has been working in the UK North meanwhile just struck a deal to buy BP’s interest
Sea for nearly two decades. Its potential exit now in the Royal Dutch Shell-operated Shearwater
comes as Japanese counterpart Marubeni is also field.™

Week 21 27•May•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P13