Cairn Sheds Stake In Norwegian Project

UK-based Cairn Energy has struck a deal to farm out 10% of its Nova oil and gas development off Norway to the Netherlands’ ONE-Dyas, for $59.5mn.

Pending approvals, the transaction will be backdated to January 1 2019, Cairn said in a London stock exchange filing on August 6. Proceeds from the sale will be used to cover the company’s exploration and development expenses, it said.

Nova is situated within production licence 418 in the Norwegian North Sea, some 20 km from London-listed Neptune Energy’s Gjoa platform. Germany’s Wintershall operates the project with a 45% interest, while UK Centrica’s Spirit Energy and Italy’s Edison have 20% and 15% respectively. Once its sale is finalised, Cairn will retain a 10% stake.

Nova is set to come on stream in 2021, under a development plan cleared by authorities last year. Its production will be dispatched to the Gjoa platform for processing, with oil transported via the TOR-2 pipeline to Mongstad in Norway, and its gas shipped via the Flags system to St Fergus in the UK.

Cairn has recently wrapped up a disappointing two-well drilling campaign off Norway.