The Alfa Sentral natural gas and condensate field, which is estimated to hold 60 million barrels of oil equivalent, is being developed as a tie-back to Statoil’s Sleipner field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
Statoil Development & Production Norway (DPN) operations south cluster senior vice president says Mette Halvorsen Ottøy said: "Statoil has set ambitious goals for future activity, production and value creation.
"This transaction demonstrates the potential on both the UK and Norwegian side of the Continental Shelf.
"The acquisition of this Alfa Sentral license increases the resource base and strengthens our efforts to further develop the Sleipner area towards 2030."
In particular, Statoil has purchased 24% interest in UKCS license P312 which, with license PL046 on the NCS, involves the Alfa Sentral field.
Statoil operates the PL046 with a 62% stake while other partners include ExxonMobil Exploration & Production Norway with 28% stake and Total E&P Norge with 10% interest.
The P312 is operated by JX Nippon with 45% interest while Talisman Sinopec and First Oil holds 31% and 24% stake respectively.
The transaction is planned to be completed by the end of this year.
The acquisition is a part of Statoil’s plan to increase its share in a high priority project in a core area while strengthening its presence on both the NCS and UKCS.
The Alfa Sentral project’s final investment decision is scheduled for late 2016 and the production is due to commence in 2020.
