Equinor closes sale of stake in Corrib gas field off Ireland
Norway's Equinor has closed the sale of its 36.5% stake in the Corrib gas field off Ireland to the project's operator, Calgary-based Vermilion Energy, it announced on April 3.
Corrib, which came online in 2015 and is Ireland's only source of domestic gas supply. But it is expected to mostly cease production by the late 2020s. In 2021, it flowed roughly 159mn ft3/day of gas.
When announcing the sale, Equinor said the deal was in line with its strategy "to capture value from the current strong market and to free up capital that we can re-invest elsewhere."
Equinor sold its share of the field for $434mn. Under the transaction, which has been backdated to January 1, 2022, Equinor agreed with Vermilion to hedge around 70% of production last year and this year. A contingent payment will be made based on a share of revenues if European gas prices exceed a given floor level.
Declining output at Corrib has prompted concerns about Ireland's future energy security, given the absence of any new upstream projects in the country. Ireland's only other source of gas supply is an interconnector pipeline from the UK, and there is stiff opposition to LNG regasification projects.