Okea Buys Norwegian Gas Find from Equinor

Norwegian independent Okea has signed a deal to buy state-owned Equinor's 40% stake in licences PL195 and PL195 B containing the Aurora gas discovery, it said on July 15.

Aurora is situated in the North Sea, west of the Gjoa oilfield, and contains 12-28mn barrels of oil equivalent. Okea, which will become operator of the licences, plans a low-cost development of Aurora by tying the field to Gjoa, without further appraisal drilling.

"By this transaction we are diversifying our portfolio as well as strengthening our position in the Gjoa area," Okea CEO Erik Haugane said. "A development of Aurora fits right into the core of Okea’s strategy with low-cost field development of smaller discoveries."

The deal, pending approval from Norwegian authorities, will be backdated to January 1 2020. Norway's Petoro and Germany's Wintershall Dea are also partners in the licences, with shares of 35% and 25% respectively. 

Okea also has a 12% interest in Gjoa, alongside partners Petoro, Wintershall Dea and Neptune Energy. The company's main asset is the Draugen oilfield, which flows around 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day. It also has a 15% interest in the Repsol-operated Yme oil project.