A minor North Sea operator has snapped up major stakes in three BP oil fields for £52 million as the global oil giant gears up for ‘easy pickings’ from its giant new near-Shetland field.
Serica Energy is taking the following respective stakes in the Bruce (36%), Keith (34.83%) and Rhum (50%) fields.
On completion of the deal, Serica will also become production operator of these BKR platforms, with 110 BP workers transferring employment to Serica.
Consequently, Serica’s pro-forma net 2P reserves at 1 January 2018 are projected to increase sixteen-fold to 50 mmboe while Serica’s net production would increase approximately seven-fold to over 21,000 boepd2 of which over 85% is gas.
BP will retain decommissioning liability for existing facilities of the BKR platforms.
Tony Craven-Walker, Serica Executive Chairman, commented: “This transaction establishes Serica Energy as a leading British independent oil and gas company with the scale, balance sheet and operating capability to prosper in the North Sea’s rapidly changing upstream oil and gas industry.
“It will diversify Serica from being a single asset to a multi-asset production company.
Bernard Looney, Chief Executive, BP Upstream, said: “While the Bruce assets are no longer core to BP, we remain committed to the North Sea and continue to invest.
“We expect our production there to double to around 200,000 barrels equivalent a day by 2020 through new projects like Quad 204 and Clair Ridge.”
20 Dec 2017
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