Verus Petroleum Mulls 12-Fold Production Growth

Laxman Pai
Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Aberdeen, UK-based Verus Petroleum has secured a 12-fold increase in its production – from 1,500 to 18,000 barrels per day in less than a year – with the closing of three recent acquisitions on the UK Continental Shelf.

A press release from the petroleum exploration and production services provider said that it  has recently completed three significant acquisitions; an interest in the Babbage gas field acquired from Premier Oil on 6th December, on the back of completing transactions to acquire Cieco Exploration & Production (UK) Limited and Equinor’s Alba field interest in November.

The private equity backed independent operator said that these three deals, each with an economic date of 1st January 2018, were funded by a combination of equity, existing cash reserves and debt. Equity has been provided by HitecVision, the majority-owner of Verus.

Together with the drilling of two wells on the Boa field, the acquisitions add approximately 17,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) to Verus’s daily production, materially increasing Verus’s cash flow.

Alan Curran, Chief Executive of Verus Petroleum said: “We are delighted to have completed these transactions which are aligned with our strategy to expand our production base and cash flow through the acquisition of high-quality production assets.

“Long-term, our aim is to build a full-cycle E&P company of scale. We now have a diversified portfolio of high-value barrels with low lifting costs in predominantly long-life fields with very strong cash generation, giving us the platform to achieve that aim.

“Our acquisition in the Boa oil field in 2017 announced our arrival; the completion of these three deals – within a matter of months – is a strong show of our resolve to become one of the leading independents in the basin.”

Mr Curran adds that the business has a strategic goal to secure Operatorship of assets in the short-to-medium term, utilising the company’s technical and operational expertise to secure commercial success.

“HitecVision’s continued support provides Verus with a solid capital base. This is a robust foundation for further growth. We are now looking to reinvest the cash flow from these assets in further long-life production and development opportunities,” he said.

On 14th November 2018 Verus signed an amended and restated Reserves Based Lending Facility (RBL) with its existing lead Nedbank Limited and six new banks to the facility.  The new banks are DNB Bank ASA, Lloyds Bank plc, BMO Capital Markets, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB and Royal Bank of Scotland plc. All are internationally recognised in the RBL market.

The RBL has been increased to $500 million and, with the strong support received from the banks and HitecVision, the company has access to material funds to finance acquisitions beyond those already announced.

Categories: Energy Oil Production Exploration

Related Stories

ABL Secures Rig Moving Assignment with India's ONGC

Pakistan, Türkiye Deepen Oil and Gas Ties with Offshore Indus-C Block Deal

MODEC Ramps Up Hammerhead FPSO Work After ExxonMobil's Go-Ahead

SBM Offshore Starts Construction of FSO for Trion Oil Field off Mexico

Russia Targets 2028 for Sakhalin-3 Gas Project Start Up

Seatrium Secures ABS Backing for Deepwater FPSO Design

Brownfield Output Decline Accelerates, says IEA

CNOOC Brings New Offshore Gas Field On Stream

China Starts Production at Major Oil Field in Bohai Sea

Seatrium Makes First Turnkey FPSO Delivery to Petrobras

Current News

Malaysia’s Petronas and Oman’s OQEP Strengthen Oil and Gas Ties

Southeast Asia’s 2GW Cross-Border Offshore Wind Scheme Targets 2034 Buildout

Pharos Energy Kicks Off Drilling Campaign Offshore Vietnam

Viridien to Shed More Light on Malaysia’s Offshore Oil and Gas Potential

US Pressure on India Could Propel Russia's Shadow Oil Exports

Energy Drilling’s EDrill-2 Rig Starts Ops for PTTEP in Gulf of Thailand

RINA Wins FEED Contract for Petronas’ Flagship CCS Project in Malaysia

ABL Secures Rig Moving Assignment with India's ONGC

Pakistan, Türkiye Deepen Oil and Gas Ties with Offshore Indus-C Block Deal

Eni-Petronas Gas Joint Venture Up for Launch in 2026

Subscribe for AOG Digital E‑News

AOG Digital E-News is the subsea industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email three times per week

https://accounts.newwavemedia.com