Statoil To Sell Stakes In Several Fields Offshore Norway To OMV For $2.65 Bln

(RTTNews) - Statoil ASA (STO) said Monday that it has signed an agreement to divest minority interests in several fields offshore Norway to Austrian oil and gas company OMV for $2.65 billion in cash.

Statoil said it will divest minority interests in the Gullfaks and Gudrun fields offshore Norway and exit the non-core, non-operated Schiehallion and Rosebank fields, West of Shetlands.

In addition, the transaction with OMV includes a contingent payment and involves a partnership between the two companies. Statoil noted that it reduces its ownership share in Gullfaks to 51 % from 70 % and to 51 % from 75 % in Gudrun, and retains its operatorships on both fields.

Statoil said it expects to recognize a gain from the transaction estimated to be between $1.3 billion - $1.5 billion, to be adjusted for activity between the effective date 1 January 2013 and the closing date.

The company noted that the transaction will enable it to redeploy around $7 billion of capital expenditure, around $5.5 billion of which is pre-2020, excluding potential investments in the recent Shetland/Lista discovery at Gullfaks.

OMV is an established company on both the Norwegian or NCS and the UK (UKCS) continental shelves.

Statoil and OMV enter into a partnership including potential cooperation on exploration opportunities across Norway, the UK and the Faroese Islands as well as the development of Enhanced Oil Recovery or EOR technologies.