Apache North Sea Ltd has bought ExxonMobil Corp's Mobil North Sea assets for natural gas and oil operations.
In a deal worth $1.7bn, Apache North Sea Ltd - a UK division of Huston-based exploration specialists Apache Corporation - will take on all of Mobil North Sea's assets including the Beryl oil and gas field.
Currently, all of the Mobil fields - Beryl, Nevis, Nevis South, Ness, Skene, Buckland, Maclure, Scott and Telford - are producing around 19,000 barrels of oil and 58m cubic feet of gas on a daily basis from a reserved estimated at 68m boe. The deal also includes operation of the Beryl/Brae gas pipeline and SAGE gas plant and interests in the Benbecula exploration site.
Apache already has a presence in the North Sea, with the new acquisition increasing the company's production in the area by more than half and adding 44% to its proved reserves. The company described the deal as providing "the best North Sea assets we've evaluated since acquiring the Forties Field in 2003". When Apache first took on Fortes it was producing around 33,000b/d. In Q2 2011, the field was yielding nearly 57,000b/d.
The output of the new assets will, like the Fortes oil, be linked to the Brent crude price. The deal is set to be completed by the end of the year and Apache will take on current ExxonMobil staff working on the assets.