Page 11 - EurOil Week 06 2021

EurOil INVESTMENT EurOil

EnQuest to acquire Suncor North

Sea assets for $325mn

UK UK producer EnQuest has reached a deal to interest in the Bressay heavy oilfield from Nor-
acquire Canadian player Suncor’s 26.7% stake in way’s Equinor for 18%.
EnQuest said the the Golden Eagle area of the UK North Sea for The company sees further development
purchase would provide an initial $325mn. potential at Golden Eagle, with the expecta-
it with an extra 10,000 The area, operated by China’s CNOOC, con- tion that the project’s life can be extended into
boepd. sists of the producing Golden Eagle, Peregrine the early 2030s. A four-well infill drilling pro-
and Solitaire fields. The area yielded its first oil gramme is currently underway, with two of the
in October 2014. four wells already on stream. The programme
In a statement, EnQuest said the pur- should wrap up before the Suncor deal’s comple-
chase would provide it with an extra 10,000 tion, anticipated no later than the third quarter
barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in of 2021. EnQuest added it was assessing various
supply, and 18mn barrels in 2P reserves. unsanctioned projects, including further sub-
The deal includes a further $50mn in con- sea and platform infill drilling, topsides water
tingent payments, dependent on future oil debottlenecking and an active well intervention
prices. programme.
EnQuest is looking to expand its North Sea EnQuest CEO Amjad Bseisu described
position, which has shrunk over the past year as Golden Eagle as a “high-quality, low-cost” North
the company has had to call time on its Thistle, Sea asset.
Heather and Alma-Galia fields. “Upon completion, this acquisition will add
Production from the operator’s Dons pro- immediate material production and cash flow to
ject is due to cease in the current quarter. The EnQuest and will allow us to accelerate the use
Kraken, which EnQuest operates with a 70% of our substantial tax losses,” he explained. “It
interest, recently entered decline less than four also demonstrates our continued commitment
years after its launch. to the UK North Sea and diversifies our existing
EnQuest recently snapped up a 40.8% production base.” ™

Carlyle expands stake in

European refiner Varo

SWITZERLAND PRIVATE equity fund Carlyle Group has Dutch investment firm Reggeborgh, while Vitol’s
expanded its ownership of European oil refiner shareholding will stay unaffected. The financial
Varo Energy, exploiting the currently depressed terms of the deal were not disclosed. But Carlyle
market for fuels said it would fund the deal using its Carlyle Inter-
Varo controls Switzerland’s 68,000 barrel per national Energy Partners II fund, which invests
day Cressier refinery and a majority share of the in oil and gas production outside the US.
215,000 bpd Bayernoil refinery in Germany. It Marcel van Poecke, managing director and
also has marketing and storage businesses in head of Carlyle International Energy Partners,
France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Nether- said Varo was expected to expand “as it lever-
lands, Germany and Switzerland. It was formed ages its solid platform and further capitalises on
in 2012 with Vitol as its majority shareholder, but opportunities presented by the shift towards low
the commodities trader has gradually sold off its carbon.”
stake to Carlyle. Varo is already a major player in the sourc-
The company was valued at €2bn ($2.4bn) ing, blending and sales and marketing of
when it planned to list on the Amsterdam stock biofuels in Western Europe, putting it in a
market in 2018. But the offering was pulled, with good position to benefit from rising demand
CEO Roger Brown blaming the move on market for products with a minimal environmental
turbulence caused by tense relations between the impact. However, a number of other European
US and China at the time. refiners are also going down this route, includ-
Carlyle will increase its stake in Rotter- ing France’s Total, Sweden’s Preem and Spain’s
dam-based Varo from 33% to 66% by buying out Repsol. ™

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