Wintershall sells selected assets on the Nortwegian shelf
Wintershall, a 100% BASF subsidiary, is further optimizing its portfolio by divesting assets in the four non-operated fields Knarr (20%), Veslefrikk (4.5%), Ivar Aasen (6.4615%) and Yme (10%) on the Norwegian continental shelf to Tellus Petroleum AS, a recently acquired 100% subsidiary of Sequa Petroleum N.V. At the same time, Wintershall is reducing its share in the own-operated Maria Development by 15% to 35% and has gained Tellus Petroleum as a further partner to develop this field, for which the plan for development and operation (PDO) was recently submitted, the Company said in a press release.
The package Wintershall is selling to Tellus Petroleum also includes equity stakes in seven exploration licenses in the vicinity of the Knarr, Maria and Ivar Aasen fields and in the Barents Sea, as well as ownership interests in the Utsira High Gas Pipeline (3.8769%), the Edvard Grieg Oil Pipeline (2.5846%) and the Knarr Gas Pipeline (20%).
The agreed purchase price for the transaction is US$602 million, of which US$40 million is subject to the Maria Field development being approved by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. In addition, Tellus Petroleum will make a further payment of up to US$100 million depending on the development of the oil price in the period from 2016 to 2019. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2015 – subject to approval by the relevant authorities – and will be financially retroactive to January 1, 2015.
“We continue our strategy to grow at the source,” said Martin Bachmann, member of the Board of Executive Directors of Wintershall and responsible for exploration and production in Europe: “With this transaction we are selling shares in non-operated fields at a competitive price and reducing our investment obligations.”
Wintershall Holding GmbH, based in Kassel, Germany, is a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF in Ludwigshafen. The company has been active in the extraction of natural resources for 120 years, and in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas for over 80 years. Wintershall focuses on selected core regions where the company has built up a high level of regional and technological expertise. These are Europe, Russia, North Africa, South America, and increasingly the Middle East region. The company wants to expand its business further with exploration and production, selected partnerships, innovation and technological competence. The company employs about 2500 staff worldwide from 40 nations and is now Germany’s largest crude oil and natural gas producer.