Blackstone, BWE to invest $1 billion in new Norwegian oil and gas player

Blackstone, one of the world’s largest investment firms, and Blue Water Energy (BWE), have agreed to invest up to one billion U.S. dollars into Mime Petroleum.

Mime Petroleum is a new independent development and production company established earlier in 2017 by Blue Water Energy and Sverre Skogen, Chairman and CEO.

The company is mainly focused on finding value in existing fields and licenses on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (“NCS”).

Mime Petroleum will acquire assets available on the NCS and pursue production optimization, developments and near-field exploration opportunities.

Chairman and CEO Sverre Skogen was Executive / Non-Executive Chairman of Det norske oljeselskap (now Aker BP).

The core management team is comprised of five executives who previously worked together building DEA Norge’s upstream business, along with Harald Grøsfjeld who joined as CFO with over 29 years’ experience in the oil industry. Mustafa M. Siddiqui, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, and Kjell-Erik Østdahl, Senior Advisor at Blackstone and former Executive Vice President for Operations at Schlumberger, will join the board of Mime Petroleum.

Sverre Skogen, Chairman and CEO of Mime Petroleum, commented on the announcement: “Whilst Blue Water Energy has provided strong strategic and financial support to date, this is now significantly enhanced in combination with Blackstone. Mustafa Siddiqui and his team are a welcome addition and I am looking forward to working with both parties on delivering the vision we have for Mime Petroleum. There are a lot of high-quality opportunities on the NCS, and, with two of the foremost energy investors behind us, we are well positioned to take advantage of these.”

Mustafa M. Siddiqui, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, added: “We are delighted to be backing Sverre Skogen and the Mime Petroleum team. With $15 billion of capital invested in the energy sector, we continue our track record of supporting top management teams with the growth capital and resources to build energy industry champions. We and BWE have enjoyed a successful partnership in the UK and we look forward to replicating that success in Norway.”