ExxonMobil Corp. is in exclusive discussions with Var Energi—a joint venture of Eni SPA and private investment firm HitecVision—regarding the possible sale of the remainder of ExxonMobil’s upstream Norwegian oil and gas assets, Var Energi confirmed to media outlets Sept. 6.
At yearend 2018, ExxonMobil held non-operated working interests of 6-40% in 43 licenses and 20 fields in Norway where the company has had a presence since 1965. The company’s net production from Norway fields that year, according to Norwegian Petroleum Directorate data, was 158,000 boe/d.
Var Energi, the largest independent exploration and production company on the Norwegian continental shelf with 2018 average net production of more than 169,000 boe/d from 17 oil and gas fields, operates five fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (Barents Sea, Norwegian Sea, and North Sea) and holds ownership interests in 14 partner-operated fields, according to its web site.
Upon its formation by the merger of Eni Norge AS and Point Resources AS in July 2018, Var Energi said it would spend $8 billion over the next 5 years to raise production offshore Norway to 250,000 boe/d of oil and gas from the companies’ combined output of 180,000 boe/d (OGJ Online, July 9, 2018). HitecVision formed Point Resources in 2016 and in December 2017 acquired production operated by ExxonMobil Exploration & Production Norway.
A final sales agreement has not been signed.
