Ithaca Energy has agreed to acquire the remaining 30% stake in Cambo field from Shell UK Ltd., taking Ithaca Energy’s stake to 100% and providing the company with full control over future development of the UK North Sea’s second largest undeveloped oil and gas discovery.
In May, Ithaca Energy signed an agreement with Shell defining a marketing process for Shell’s 30% working interest in the field that provided outcomes to enable progression of the project towards a final investment decision, Ithaca said.
Under that agreement, Shell would market and sell a portion of its 30% working interest in Cambo, or the entire 30% interest and provided an option for Shell to sell any remaining portion of its stake not sold to a third party to Ithaca Energy.
Pending regulatory approval, the sale, which would amount to about $77.85 million an Ithaca spokesperson said, according to Reuters, will be paid once the field comes on stream or if Ithaca sells working interest in the field.
Cambo development options continue to be evaluated to support submission of a field development application ahead of the associated license milestone of Mar. 31, 2024, Ithaca said in its first-half 2023 presentation.
The field lies about 80 miles west of the Shetland Islands, about 20 miles south of Rosebank, and about 20 miles north of Schiehallion. Discovered in 2002, the field is a large basement high with sedimentary sequences atop the structure and sits on the Corona Ridge structural feature.
Cambo is expected to be developed using a purpose-built, electrification-ready Sevan FPSO, which aims to produce oil at less than half the CO2 intensity of the average UK field.