Wintershall Dea to sell stakes in Norwegian North Sea assets to OKEA

German oil and gas company Wintershall Dea has agreed to sell its stakes in three oil fields, in the Norwegian North Sea, to Norway’s OKEA for €108m ($114m).

As per the terms of the deal, Wintershall Dea will sell its 35.2% stake in the Brage field, its 6.46% interest in the Ivar Aasen field, and a 6% stake in the Nova development, which is scheduled to start production in Q3 2022.

The agreement also includes payments related to the fulfilment of certain conditions.

Wintershall Dea chief operating officer Dawn Summers said: “Norway is, and remains, an important core region for Wintershall Dea’s production in our global portfolio.

“With the sale of our interests in Brage and Ivar Aasen, we are further strengthening our focus in Norway on gas production.

“Here we already have a strong position in the country, and our major projects Dvalin and Njord, that are planned to come on stream by the end of 2022, will add further gas volumes that secure energy supply in Europe.”

The sale forms part of Wintershall Dea’s efforts to focus on gas and carbon management projects in Norway.

Subject to customary approval by authorities, the deal is expected to be completed in Q4 2022. The transaction will then be effective retroactively from 1 January 2022.

OKEA CEO Svein Liknes said: “Through this acquisition, OKEA establishes a new operating position, enhances the scale and diversification of our portfolio, and strengthens our position within existing core areas.”

Upon the completion of the deal, OKEA will become the operator of the Brage field and will increase its stake in the Ivar Aasen field to 9.2385%, from 2.777%.

Wintershall Dea will serve as the operator of the Nova field project with a 39% stake while the other partners will include OKEA (6%), Sval Energi (25%), Spirit Energy Norway (20%), and ONE-Dyas Norge (10%).

In 2021, Wintershall Dea’s production capacity in Norway was 159,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), of which more than half was natural gas.

The firm expects the upcoming Njord, Nova, and Dvalin projects to add approximately 70,000boepd to 80,000boepd. Production from the Brage and Ivar Aasen fields stood at nearly 6,000boepd.

Earlier this month, Wintershall Dea announced that it would be acquiring an additional 11.25% participating interest in the Reggane Nord natural gas project.

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