BP is reportedly in talks to acquire a stake in oil and gas fields in the Andrew Area located in the UK North Sea from Japan’s JX Nippon Exploration and Production.
The plan is reported by Bloomberg citing people familiar with the development.
JX Nippon representative was cited by the publication as saying that the firm is due to decide on the sale of its UK oil and gas assets amid a global portfolio review.
However, there is no certainty that BP will acquire a stake in the fields.
According to people familiar with the matter, JX Nippon also received bids from undisclosed parties for the other assets.
In May 2021, Reuters reported that JX Nippon was considering the sale of its oil and gas assets worth up to $1.5bn, in the UK North Sea.
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By GlobalDataSome of the assets considered for the divestment included stakes in Andrew, Culzean and Mariner fields.
BP earlier attempted to divest its stakes in the Andrew area and its non-operating interest in the Shearwater field to Premier Oil. However, the deal was scrapped following Chrysaor’s reverse takeover of Premier.
In a separate announcement, Japan’s trading house Marubeni has announced its decision to sell its subsidiary Marubeni Oil & Gas (Moguk) to Ithaca Energy.
Moguk holds oil and gas assets in the UK North Sea.
In September 2021, Reuters reported that Ithaca Energy agreed to acquire Marubeni’s oil and gas assets in the North Sea for approximately $1bn.
Earlier in the same month, Bloomberg reported that Marubeni was working with Jefferies Financial Group to offload its stake in the MonArb area (Montrose Area) in the Central North Sea.
The Montrose Area comprises the Arbroath, Arkwright, Montrose, Brechin, Godwin, Wood, Shaw and Cayley fields.
It is located in blocks 22/17, 22/18, 22/22 and 22/23, approximately 200km east of Aberdeen.
