UK Premier Silent on Chevron UK Assets

UK-listed producer Premier said January 14 it continues to look at opportunities to acquire UK North Sea assets in line with the group's stated strategy. In a stock exchange notice following a weekend of newsflow regarding targets, it said there was no guarantee that the group would bid in any process or that any process will complete.

It said: "Specifically, no firm decision has been taken to bid for all or any of the assets currently being marketed by Chevron and how, in the event that the group were to be successful, the acquisition of such assets would be financed."

Press reports had suggested it could raise money from the sale of stakes in Mexico, where it has 25% of the Zama field, as well as by a rights issue, to fund the $1.5bn asset deal. The Sunday Times said Premier was bidding against Israeli Delek, Chrysaor and Ineos for the US major's assets, which were worth about twice Premier's market value; and that Ineos' bid was conditional on it also succeeding in buying US ConocoPhillips' assets, valued at about $2bn. Premier at that point declined to comment on market speculation. 

In a trading notice January 10, however, there no clues of something as ambitious as this in the pipeline: CEO Tony Durrant said the group's focus would be on continuing to repay debt and progressing its existing projects to final investment decisions to boost growth.

Current operational performance remains strong with production in the first two weeks of January averaging above 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day, it said.