Published 5.05.2010
As part of its strategy of building a balanced portfolio of assets on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, Spring Energy has agreed to acquire assets from Wintershall Norge ASA (WINO).
The assets acquired include:
1) 5 % working interest (WI) in PL375, which contains the significant Beta oil discovery that was announced in January this year and where an appraisal well is due to be drilled later this year.
2) 20 % WI in PL 337, located in the North Sea and where the Storkollen prospect currently is being drilled and where there is significant additional exploration upside. Results from this well are expected within the next 2-3 weeks and if successful would be looked at as a tie-back candidate to the Varg or Grevling fields.
3) 35 % WI and Operatorship in PL 344, located in the Statfjord/Murchison area of the North Sea. Spring currently has 30 % WI in PL344 and hence will have a 65 % WI following this transaction.
This is Spring Energy’s first operated license.
Effective date for all assets is 1 January 2010.
Roar Tessem, CEO of Spring Energy commented:
“This transaction builds on our strategy of building an attractive and balanced portfolio of assets on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. With our track record to date, and the addition of these assets, significant value has been added for our shareholders since the Company’s operations commenced in 2008. We are very pleased to increase our ownership to 20% in the exciting PL 375 license which holds the Beta discovery and the acquisition of additional acreage exposes shareholders to further exploration upside. Following this transaction Spring Energy has now committed to a total of 15 exploration and appraisal wells on the NCS, of which 8 are scheduled for 2010 (2 appraisal and 6 exploration wells)”,
The transaction is subject to Authority approval.