Page 17 - EurOil Week 02 2021

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

Energean expands position off Greece

GREECE LONDON-LISTED Energean announced on Israeli consolidation
January 7 it had wrapped up the purchase of Energean’s Karish, Karish North and Tanin fields
The prospect is an Total’s 50% interest in a concession off Western in the Israeli Mediterranean are set to drive the
analogue of the Vega Greece. company’s growth over the coming years. First
oilfield off Italy. The producer is on an aggressive acquisition gas from Karish and Tanin is scheduled for the
drive as it looks to consolidate its leading position fourth quarter, and a final investment decision
in the Mediterranean region. It recently closed (FID) on Karish North is expected in the near
the takeover of Italian firm Edison’s upstream future.
assets for $284mn, giving it new positions in The three fields hold some 98.2bn cubic
Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Italy, Israel, Malta, Mon- metres of gas and 99.6mn barrels of liquids in
tenegro and the UK. It is also looking to buy out proven and probable reserves, according to the
its private partner at its flagship gas projects off latest independent appraisal. Energean plans
Israel. to exploit them using an 8 bcm per year float-
Energean now has a 75% interest in Greece’s ing production storage and offloading (FPSO)
offshore Block 2, after acquiring Total’s position unit.
as well as a 25% stake that was held by Edison. Energean announced on December 30 it had
It has also replaced Total as the concession’s entered a deal to acquire private equity fund
operator. Kerogen’s 30% stakes in the leases containing the
The purchase, agreed in March, gives Ener- fields, giving it 100% ownership.
gean added exploration opportunities in its core The transaction, with a $380-405mn price
area, and there are limited remaining financial tag, is due to be closed in the current quar-
obligations at the site, the company said. The ter. It comprises a $175mn upfront payment
remaining 25% interest in Block 2 is held by on completion and $155-180mn in deferred
Greece’s Hellenic Petroleum. payments after Karish is brought on stream. It
“Work on the licence to date has identified also involves $50mn of convertible loan notes
that it contains part of a large four-way dip clo- that mature in December 2023, and have a
sure that is covered by 2D seismic and represents GBP9.50 ($12.9) strike price and a zero cou-
a potential future drilling prospect,” it noted. pon rate.
Energean said this prospect was understood Energean CEO Mathios Rigas said that the
to be an analogue of the producing Vega oilfield acquisition was “a unique opportunity, given
off Italy, which it now operates with a 60% posi- our existing, unrivalled understanding of the
tion following the Edison takeover. The company assets and the fact that the position significantly
will also have an interest in the adjacent 84F.R-EL enhances Energean’s cash flow, whilst generat-
block offshore Italy pending an award. ing no incremental general and administrative
Energean did not say how much it had paid costs.”
for the stake. But it said in March it would Energean has also had success finding buy-
spend €500,000 ($550,000) covering its share ers for its Israeli gas. In December it reached an
of required minimum work costs. This work agreement with Israeli utility Rapac Energy on
will include a 1,800-km 2D seismic campaign to the delivery of an extra 0.4 bcm per year of gas
de-risk potential drilling. from Karish, bringing total contracted sales to
Energean already produces oil off Greece at 7.4 bcm per year. This means it only has to con-
the Prinos concession, delivering 1,900 barrels tract out a further 0.6 bcm per year for its FPSO
per day (bpd) in the first nine months of last year. to achieve full utilisation.™

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