Page 12 - AsianOil Week 05 2021
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KNOC seeks to sell North Sea fields
FINANCE & STATE-OWNED Korea National Oil Corp. The Tolmount project, for example, is
INVESTMENT (KNOC) is reportedly seeking to sell a number expected to deliver first gas in the second quar-
of its upstream assets in the North Sea as it strives ter of this year. UK developer Premier Oil oper-
to reduce its debt load. ates the Tolmount project with a 50% stake,
The company wants to sell subsidiary Dana while Dana holds the remaining interest. Pre-
Petroleum’s 10% stake in the Tolmount project in mier walked away from a $191mn deal to buy
UK waters as well as its entire Dutch and Danish a 25% stake in the Tolmount project from Dana
operations, Reuters reported on January 29, cit- in June 2020. Private equity-backed Chrysaor is
ing a company sales document. currently in the process of executing a reverse
KNOC acquired Dana Petroleum in Septem- takeover of Premier.
ber 2010 via a hostile takeover that was valued at KNOC was first reported to be looking to
$2.6bn, or $2.9bn when including the company’s reduce its holdings in Dana in January 2019
convertible bondholders. The deal, reported at amid a wider push by the South Korean gov-
the time to be the first successful hostile acquisi- ernment to reduce the debt-equity ratios of the
tion by an Asian state-owned company, gave the country’s state-owned companies.
major access to 36 oil and gas fields in Egypt and KNOC’s debt ratio has exploded in recent
the North Sea. years, climbing from 453% in 2015 to 3,021%
Reuters quoted the sales document as saying in 2019 and then to an estimated 7,240% by July
the sale was part of a “strategic review”, while 2020. KNOC’s efforts to reduce its debt ratio to
noting that the fields were expected to produce a previously stated target of 500% via restructur-
20,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) ing have floundered in the face of the global eco-
by 2025 once near-term drilling projects had nomic downturn triggered by the coronavirus
been taken into account. (COVID-19) pandemic.
Keppel, Daewoo, Samsung submit bids
to Petrobras for FPSO construction
PROJECTS & BRAZIL’S national oil company (NOC) Petro-
COMPANIES bras said earlier this week that it had received
three proposals for a contract to build two new
drilling platforms.
In a statement dated February 1, Petrobras
said that the offers had come from three Asian
consortia – one led by Keppel (Singapore), one
led by Samsung (South Korea) and one led by
Daewoo (South Korea). It did not reveal the and finalise the contract before the end of June,
financial terms of the offers, but it did say that the the statement said.
groups were bidding for the right to build float- The NOC’s statement was published several
ing production, storage and off-loading (FPSO) days after Reuters reported that subsidiaries of
units that will be known as P-78 and P-79. three South Korean conglomerates had set up
It also reported that the consortia had all consortia to bid for the right to build the new
pledged to work with Brazilian partners such as drilling platforms. Four sources familiar with
state-owned EBR or Brasfels to build the FPSOs. the matter told the news agency last week that
All three have promised to comply with local Daewoo Heavy Industries & Machinery (DHI),
content regulations that call for at least 25% of Hyundai Heavy Industries Holding (HHI)
the value of the contract to go to Brazilian com- and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) had all
panies, the statement said. signalled their interest in the rig construction
According to the terms of the tender, both contract.
P-78 and P-79 are due to be completed and It was not known as of press time whether
installed at Búzios, an offshore oilfield in the HHI had submitted an offer as expected, and of
Santos Basin, in 2025. Each FPSO will be able to press time, none of the South Korean firms had
handle 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil commented on the matter.
and 7.2mn cubic metres per day of natural gas. The cost of building each FPSO is likely to
Petrobras hopes to name the winning bidder reach $1.7bn, one of Reuters’ sources said.
P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 05 04•February•2021
