EnQuest Farms Down UK Eagle Find for $1
UK producer EnQuest has struck a deal to farm out a 85% interest and operatorship of the Eagle oil and gas field in the UK North Sea to Malaysian-owned Anasuria Hibiscus for a nominal $1, the London-listed company said in a stock filing on February 25.
Under the deal, Anasuria Hibiscus will cover EnQuest's share of development costs up to first oil. The farm-out is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2021, pending regulatory and third-party approvals. EnQuest has previously said that Eagle's one well would start flowing this September at a rate of 8,500 barrels/day of oil and 3mn ft3 (84,800 m3)/day of gas. The project will be short-lived, with output expected to start declining in April 2022.
EnQuest is eager to advance new projects, following the decommissioning of its Thistle and Heather platforms last year. It also opted for early shutdowns at its mature Don and Alma-Galia fields after the coronavirus pandemic struck, and its flagship Kraken oil project recently entered decline less than four years after its launch.
Earlier this year EnQuest closed the purchase of a 40.8% stake from Norway's Equinor in the Bressay heavy oilfield, one of the largest undeveloped deposits on the UK shelf. It is expected that Bressay will be tied back to Kraken.