BW Offshore to buy the remaining stake in Maromba field from Chevron

Oslo-listed FPSO operator BW Offshore has entered into an agreement to acquire the remaining 30% of the Maromba field offshore Brazil for a total acquisition cost of $25 million from Chevron.

To remind, BW Offshore revealed its plan to acquire 100% of the Maromba field from Petrobras (70%) and Chevron (30%) in early March.

Days later, BW entered into an agreement with Petrobras to acquire 70% of the Maromba field for a total acquisition cost of $90 million.

On Thursday, March 14 BW Offshore said it had entered into the agreement with Chevron for the remaining Maromba field stake. The closing of the acquisition is subject to fulfillment or waiver of conditions precedents, including approval by The Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) to close the transaction and deem BW Offshore an approved operator in Brazil.

According to BW, the acquisition price will be paid over three milestones. The first milestone of $10 million is due on receipt of ANP approval as operator and formal sanction of the transaction, expected in the second half of 2019. The second milestone of $5 million is due at start of drilling activities and the third part-payment, representing the remaining $10 million, after achieving cumulative production of 250,000 barrels of oil from the area.

The company will proceed to finalize the Plan of Development (PoD) for approval by The Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP).

Maromba is located off the Brazilian coast in the Campos Basin in approximately 160 meters of water depth. Internal estimates show potential recoverable resources of 100-150 million barrels of low-sulphur 16 API oil in Maastrichtian sandstone reservoirs. Eight of nine exploration and appraisal wells drilled to date have been successful and have found oil in multiple reservoirs. Four out of the eight successful wells have defined and delineated the Maastrichtian sand targets.

In addition to the Maastrichtian targets, prior exploration data yields more than 1 billion barrels of oil in place upside potential. This upside will be later defined by further appraisal work post first oil, similar to recent appraisal campaigns at the Dussafu license offshore Gabon.

The Maromba field is located close to the Peregrino, Papa Terra, and Polvo oil fields where BW Offshore currently has or has had operations. BW Offshore intends to deploy one of its existing FPSOs to the field as part of a phased development to de-risk the project like at the Dussafu development.

This is not BW Offshore’s first venture into oil and gas exploration. Namely, BW Offshore’s subsidiary, BW Energy, is the operator of the Dussafu license located offshore Gabon. The company last August made an oil discovery in the Ruche North East Marin-1 well drilled in the Dussafu Marin PSC.

Offshore Energy Today Staff