Statoil to Buy Total's Martin Linge Stake
Total said November 27 it has agreed to sell its entire interests in the Martin Linge field and Garantiana discovery offshore Norway to Statoil for $1.45bn.
Statoil will acquire a 51% interest in the Martin Linge oil and gas field and 40% interest in Garantiana, and take over operatorship of both. It will increase its Martin Linge interest from 19% to 70%. Statoil currently has no stake in Garantiana, an oil discovery north of Visund in the North Sea. Completion is scheduled for 2018, subject to government approvals.
Martin Linge gas will flow through a new pipe connecting the field to the existing pipeline to St Fergus in Scotland and the oil will be processed on the storage vessel and transported from the field by tanker. The deaths of six workers in a crane collapse at a South Korean shipyard in May 2017 deferred its project start up by more than a year until 1H2019. Statoil's website says first oil was originally scheduled for 4Q 2016 when the project was approved by the Norwegian parliament in mid-2012.
Martin Linge (formerly known as Hild), west of the Oseberg field in the North Sea, has estimated recoverable resources in excess of 300mn barrels oil equivalent (boe) and its expected production lifetime extends into the 2030s, while Garantiana has resource potential of 50-70mn boe for which development concepts are being studied.
Statoil said it would receive remaining tax balances with a nominal post-tax value of more than $1bn, as a result of the transaction, which has been backdated to January 1 2017.
Total upstream chief Arnaud Breuillac said the French company was prompted to review its asset base in the North Sea, following its agreement to acquire Maersk Oil for $7.45bn: “Given that Martin Linge is Total's only operated asset in Norway, there is limited scope to optimise operations.... We are therefore satisfied with the agreement with Statoil, a long time trusted partner, which in addition, offers us a satisfactory value for this asset.”
Offshore Norway, Total will focus on major non-operated assets such as Ekofisk, Snohvit and Johan Sverdrup, he added.
First oil from Brazil's Libra
In other news November 27, Total announced first oil from its Libra oilfield offshore Brazil; this is part of an early production system using a 50,000 b/d floating production ship (FPSO) Pioneiro de Libra. It said Libra's first full phase development will have 150,000 b/d capacity and be followed, in the years ahead, by similar incremental phases up to the giant field's full potential. Libra is operated by Petrobras with 40%; Total and Shell each have 20% equity, while Chinese state companies CNOOC and CNPC each have 10%.