Ithaca Energy acquires Siccar Point Energy for $1.4bn
UK North Sea producer Ithaca Energy announced April 7 it had reached agreement with Siccar Point Energy, operators of several oil and gas assets in the North Sea, to acquire the business in a deal worth up to $1.4bn.
The consideration includes a $1.1bn upfront payment and multiple conditional payments that could net Siccar's shareholders an additional $360mn, with $300mn of the sum linked to future developments and $60mn to short-run commodity prices.
|
Advertisement: The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) NGC’s HSSE strategy is reflective and supportive of the organisational vision to become a leader in the global energy business. |
Siccar Point operates the Schiehallion and Mariner fields, two of the UK's top 10 producing assets, as well as the Jade high-pressure, high-temperature gas field in the Central North Sea, around 150 miles south-east of Aberdeen, Scotland.
The company was hit by Shell's departure from its Cambo oilfield development last year, which forced the project to be suspended in December.
Cambo's first phase would extract an estimated 170mn oil and condensate barrels as well as 53.5bn ft3 of natural gas. Siccar also has a 20% non-operated stake in oil and gas field Rosebank, which could contain around 300mn barrels of potentially recoverable reserves, according to the Journal Of Petroleum Technology.
The acquisition means Ithaca now has interest in four of the UK's biggest North Sea oil and gas producers, and comes after the company bought another local player, Summit Corp, for $224mn last month.
It says every asset in the Siccar Point portfolio has a lower carbon intensity than both UK Continental Shelf and global averages.
The move comes as the UK has restated its support for North Sea upstream projects. Ithaca will be hoping that its expansion will cement its position as local player, just as Whitehall prepares to hand out new upstream oil and gas licences in autumn.