Ithaca Energy completed a 754 million pound ($993 million) deal to buy nearly all of Eni’s UK oil and gas producing assets, it said on Thursday, an all-share transaction to create one of the biggest independent energy companies in the North Sea.
North Sea oil and gas operators are not just facing the prospect of higher windfall taxes, they are now also finding it more difficult to get loans from UK banks.
The windfall profit tax was imposed on the energy industry in 2022 amid record profits resulting from the supply uncertainty in oil and gas following the incursion of Russian troops into Ukraine.
According to data from Norwegian investment bank SpareBank 1 Markets, reserve-based lending to oil and gas operators in the UK’s North Sea had fallen by some 40-50% since the introduction of the windfall profit tax.
The Government has said it will not challenge judicial reviews brought against developments for the Rosebank and Jackdaw offshore oil and gas fields in the North Sea, in order to “save the taxpayer money”.
SLB, OneSubsea, Subsea 7 and the Subsea Integration Alliance will increase speed of tool delivery, optimize installation and reduce rig days at BP’s Murlach development in the North Sea.
The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) revealed it will get tough on operators that do not meet their obligations.
Vår Energi struck a similar supply deal with Germany’s VNG Handel & Vertrieb for the delivery of 5 bcm (176.6 bcf) of gas over 12 years.
The company has discovered gross recoverable hydrocarbons of up to 39 million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe) in the North Sea.
The SNP are “in-between” the Conservatives and Labour policy on new licences for oil and gas fields in the North Sea, the deputy first minister has said.
John Browne, the former head of BP, has seemingly backed a Labour Party pledge to end North Sea oil and gas exploration.
The industry heavyweight, who joined the energy giant as an apprentice in the 1960s, said that plans for the North Sea and the “energy transition” would be important issues at the next election.
Luxembourg-domiciled Subsea7 has tucked a new assignment in the UK under its belt, which will enable it to work on the development of a field that will be tied back to an existing floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel working in the North Sea.