Equinor and Sval Energi have entered into an agreement for the sale of Equinor’s non-operated share in the Greater Ekofisk Area and a minority share in Martin Linge (19%).
The agreement includes 7.604% of Ekofisk area licenses PL018, PL018B and PL275 (including the Ekofisk, Eldfisk and Embla fields, and 6.63922% in the Tor Unit).
With this agreement, Equinor will no longer have any ownership interests in the Greater Ekofisk Area but will retain a 51% ownership share in Martin Linge and continue as the operator of the field.
The deal also includes the sale of Equinor’s interest in Norpipe Oil AS (18.5%), part of the infrastructure transporting oil from the Greater Ekofisk Area to land.
The agreement includes a cash consideration of USD 1 billion and a contingent payment structure linked to realised oil and gas prices for both assets for 2022 and 2023.
"With this transaction we are optimizing our oil and gas portfolio in line with Equinor’s strategy, capturing value from several of our assets - Rune NedregaardSenior vice president Exploration Production South Norway
“Ekofisk has played an important role in Norway and Equinor’s oil and gas journey as the first producing field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The Greater Ekofisk Area is an area where Equinor has limited participation, and we have therefore decided to sell our position in the area during a period of high prices and to redirect capital to other core areas for the business,” says Nedregaard.
“We are also pleased to announce that the deal includes bringing in Sval Energi as a partner to the Martin Linge field, creating further value from this asset. Martin Linge started production in June 2021 and is now producing very efficiently. We are looking forward to collaborating further with Sval Energi to create more value from Martin Linge going forward.”
The closing of the transaction is subject to customary government and license approvals and is expected to be completed during the second half of 2022.