Norway's state-controlled oil company Statoil has entered into an agreement to sell its interests in North Sea assets to Austrian oil and gas company OMV.
Under the transaction, valued at $2.65bn, the company will sell minority interests in Norway’s Gullfaks and Gudrun fields, and exit the Schiehallion and Rosebank fields in West of Shetlands.
The transaction also includes a contingent payment and involves a partnership between the two companies to explore for opportunities across Norway, UK and the Faroese Islands, as well as develop enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies.
Statoil said it will reduce its ownership interest in Gullfaks from 70% to 51% and from 75% to 51% in Gudrun, and retain its operatorships on both fields.
With this transaction, the company expects to gain an estimated $1.3bn-$1.5bn for the activities between the effective date 1 January 2013 and the closing date.
The company will be able to redeploy about $7bn of capital expenditure, around $5.5bn of which is pre-2020 (excluding potential investments in the recent Shetland/Lista discovery at Gullfaks).
Statoil president and CEO Helge Lund said, "We continue to deliver on our strategy to create value through active portfolio management and to further increase our financial flexibility," Lund added.
OMV CEO Gerhard Roiss said, "I believe this is a win-win deal for Statoil and OMV. Apart from the assets, I am especially proud that we can partner with a world-class leader in offshore and EOR technology."