25th Sep 2014 06:54
LONDON (Alliance News) - Cairn Energy PLC Thursday said it has signed a deal to farm-out a 10% interest in the Catcher oil field and adjacent acreage in the UK North Sea in return for Dyas UK Ltd funding exploration and development costs up to a cap of USD182 million, cutting its own development bill for the field by about USD380 million.
In a statement, the oil and gas explorer said Dyas will acquire a 10% stake in each of the P1430, P2040, P2070, P2077 and P2086 licences by funding the exploration and development work. That will leave Cairn with a 20% interest in the Catcher licence as a whole, but will reduce its capital expenditure in the area to the end of 2017 to USD200 million, down about USD380 million.
"Cairn remains focused on delivering value for shareholders from disciplined capital allocation and portfolio management across a balanced asset base. This value enhancing transaction provides us with significant additional operational flexibility to deliver the group's strategy," Cairn Chief Executive Simon Thomson said in a statement.
The farm-out needs approval from the UK government, as well as Cairn's partners on the licenses.
One the deal is cleared, the partners in the various individual Catcher licenses will be:
Licence P1430 (blocks 28/9a and 28/10c)
Premier 50% (operator), Cairn 20%, MOL Group 20%, Dyas 10%
Licence P2070 (block 28/4a)
Premier 54% (operator), Cairn 36%, Dyas 10%
Licence P2077 (block 28/8)
Premier 54% (operator), Cairn 36%, Dyas 10%
Licence P2040 (block 29/11)
Premier 35% (operator), Statoil 25%, Cairn 10%, MOL Group 20%, Dyas 10%
Licence P2086 (block 28/9b and 28/14)
Premier 35% (operator), Cairn 10%, Statoil 25%, MOL Group 20%, Dyas 10%
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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