Equinor Energy AS and Sval Energi AS agreed to acquire the Norwegian business of Spirit Energy in separate deals valued at $1.076 billion.
Spirit Energy’s shareholders, Centrica PLC and Stadtwerke München, are exiting the portfolio in Norway as part of the company strategy to reduce the carbon intensity of its portfolio, said Chris Cox, Spirit chief executive officer, in a release Dec. 8. Spirit Energy will continue as a business in the UK and in the Netherlands.
The sale to Sval Energi includes all assets with the exclusion of Statfjord, which will be acquired by Equinor Energy.
Norwegian business
The acquisition will add about 40,000 boe/d of production to Sval—a privately owned Norwegian energy company backed HitecVision—at closing, as well as additional resources that are expected to increase Sval’s total production to 60,000 boe/d by 2023, Sval Energi said in a separate release Dec. 8.
The transaction includes 45 licenses (6 operated), including 7 producing fields (Kvitebjørn, Ivar Aasen, Vega, Trym, Maria and Spirit-operated Oda and Vale) and development and exploration opportunities (Spirit-operated Fogelberg and Ivory, as well as Nova, Hanz, Halten Øst, Iris Hades, Bergknapp, and Lille Prinsen).
Statfjord
Spirit’s production licenses in the Statfjord area, spread across the Norwegian and UK Continental Shelves, are developed by three integrated production platforms (Statfjord A, B, C). All licenses are operated by Equinor. Spirit Energy’s daily production from the area in third-quarter 2021 was about 21,000 boe/d.
Total consideration for Equinor’s ownership increase is $50 million, plus a contingent payment linked to commodity prices between October 2021 and December 2022.
Statfjord began production in 1979 and has since produced 5.1 billion boe. Equinor recently launched a plan to extend the life of the field towards 2040 (OGJ Online, Jan. 9, 2020).
The Statfjord area covers Statfjord Unit (Statfjord main field), Statfjord Øst Unit, Statfjord Nord (PL037), Sygna Unit, and Barnacle. Statfjord Unit development covers the Statfjord A, B, and C concrete gravity base platforms. The other fields, except for Barnacle, are subsea developments tied back to the main field platforms.
Spirit Energy Norway AS’s ownership in the Statfjord area is: 19.76464% in the Statfjord Unit (Statfjord A, B and C) (PL037); 23.125% in Statfjord Nord (PL037); 12.7187% in Sygna Unit (PL037, PL 089); 11.5625% in Statfjord Øst Unit (PL037, PL089); and 34.29595% in PL1050 (exploration).
Spirit Energy Resources Ltd. ownership in the Statfjord area is: 14.53131% in the Statfjord Unit (Statfjord A, B and C – comprised of interests in UKCS licenses P104 and P293); 34.29595% in Barnacle (UKCS License P2460, Blocks 211/29f and 211/30c); and 48.78049% in the Northern Leg Gas Pipeline System.
After the deals close, expected by first-half 2022 subject to conditions including customary government approval, Spirit Energy will continue predominantly as a gas business, Cox said.
