EnQuest denies ‘contingency plans’ talks with OGA. Shares rise

EnQuest, an independent oil and gas company focused on the UK sector of the North Sea, saw its shares rise 11.3 percent on Monday afternoon, after it launched a statement rebuffing claims on OGA’s North Sea contingency plans, written in the Telegraph on Saturday.

Namely, the UK-based newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said that the country oil and gas regulator named Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) was working on a contingency plan to help troubled oil companies. By troubled oil companies, the Telegraph meant EnQuest, and Premier Oil.

According to the newspaper’s ‘city sources’, the OGA was looking at ways to ‘tackle the risk of insolvencies among struggling mid-cap players EnQuest and Premier Oil’ which ‘stand at the mercy of their lenders.’

Responding to the Telegraph article, London-listed EnQuest said: “EnQuest notes The Telegraph article at the weekend about the UK Oil and Gas Authority’s possible North Sea contingency plans. EnQuest routinely engages with the OGA and with the UK and Scottish Governments on industry matters, but is not involved in any company-specific discussions such as were implied by the article.”

EnQuest, formed in 2010 through the combination of the UK North Sea assets of Petrofac and Lundin Petroleum, is working to develop the Kraken oil field in the North Sea. The company earlier this year acquired additional interest in the Kraken from its partner First Oil, which went into administration.

EnQuest, the operator of the project, acquired 10.5% bringing its total interest to 70.5%, while Cairn, another partner in the field, acquired 4.5% interest in the project bringing its total interest to 29.5%.

Kraken is a large heavy oil accumulation in the UK North Sea, located in the East Shetland basin, to the west of the North Viking Graben; approximately 125 km east of the Shetland Islands. The field is estimated to contain approximately 140million barrels of gross oil reserves, and is expected to start production in the first half of 2017.

Offshore Energy Today Staff