Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor has agreed to sell a 40.8125% interest in and transfer operatorship of the Bressay oil field development east of Shetland on the UK continental shelf to petroleum E&P firm EnQuest.
Operatorship of Bressay will be transferred to EnQuest for an initial sum of £2.2m ($2.9m). Once the field development plan (FDP) is approved, another $15m will be transferred.
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The Bressay field was discovered in 1976 and Equinor became the operator of the field in 2007.
Equinor noted that the concept selection for the field development was deferred in 2016 due to challenging market conditions at that time.
Equinor UK & Ireland offshore senior vice-president Arne Gürtner said: “This transaction supports Equinor’s strategy to continually optimise our portfolio.
“We welcome EnQuest as the new operator of Bressay and believe the knowledge and experience both parties can share from our existing Mariner and Kraken developments will further strengthen the project.”
Expected to be completed in the fourth quarter this year, the transaction is, however, subject to customary closing conditions.
Following the closing of the transaction, EnQuest will have a 40.8125% interest and operatorship. While Equinor will also hold 40.8125%, Chrysaor will retain the remaining 18.375% interest.
Gürtner added: “Equinor will continue to be the UK’s leading energy supplier, and we are committed to delivering oil, gas, wind power and hydrogen to the country – playing our role in creating jobs, boosting investment and lowering carbon emissions.”
Meanwhile, Equinor also received safety consent from the country’s offshore safety watchdog Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to use the Maersk Intrepid jack-up rig on the Martin Linge field offshore Norway.
The jack-up rig would be used for production drilling, completion and intervention on the Martin Linge.
