Polish energy company ORLEN Group announced last Wednesday (27 December) that its subsidiary PGNiG Upstream Norway (PUN) has signed an agreement with Wintershall Dea Norge for the swap of shares in upstream assets in Norway.
PUN will acquire a share in the Idun Nord field and expand its holdings in the Adriana and Sabina discoveries. In exchange, it will transfer a minor part of its share in the Ærfugl Nord field to Wintershall Dea. The transaction will increase PUN’s recoverable reserves of natural gas of by more than 0.4 billion cubic metres.
“The ORLEN Group stands prominently among the leading upstream companies operating on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. We have achieved this position through the strategic integration of our Norwegian companies, consistent organic growth, and successive acquisitions,” said Daniel Obajtek, CEO and President of the ORLEN Management Board. “We have a broad and attractive licence portfolio, which we can actively manage by swapping license interests with other players in this market. Our overarching objective in these endeavours is to improve the ORLEN Group’s production capabilities, particularly for natural gas.”
The Idun Nord field and Adriana and Sabina discoveries are yet to come on stream, thus the exchange will enable a part of production to be deferred to future years, in which the productivity of currently producing fields are expected to undergo a natural decrease, ORLEN said in a press release. This is set to contribute to the stabilisation of gas volumes sourced from ORLEN’s operations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, which are transported to Poland via the Baltic Pipe pipeline.
“The agreement signed today with Wintershall Dea Norge is an important step forward, adding over 0.4 billion cubic metres to our gas resources on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, while also increasing efficiency. This milestone will help us maintain a stable level of volumes supplied to Poland in the upcoming years, thereby strengthening Poland’s energy security,” added Mr Obajtek.
Upon completion of the deal, which is pending approval from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, PUN’s share of all the fields involved in the exchange are set to stand at 11.9 per cent, mirroring its share in the Skarv field.
