Norwegian player wraps up sale of partial stakes in North Sea pair

Longboat JAPEX Norge, a Norwegian joint venture between Longboat Energy and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd (JAPEX), has completed the divestment of partial interests in two exploration licenses on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) to Norway’s Concedo.

Longboat JAPEX Norge disclosed the farm-down of partial stakes in production licenses 1182S and 1049 to Concedo in December 2023. The company has now completed these transactions. As a result, Longboat JAPEX Norge offloaded a partial stake in production license 1182S from 30% to 15% in return for a full carry of the Kjøttkake/Lotus exploration well, up to an agreed cap above the dry well budget. The well is expected to be spud in 3Q 2024. 

The license 1182S lies in the prolific Northern North Sea, 4 km southeast of the recent Kveikje discovery where Longboat JAPEX is a 10% equity partner. The Lotus prospect is comprised of Palaeocene injectite sandstones, characterized by excellent reservoir properties, and supported by seismic amplitudes.

If successful, Longboat JAPEX underscores that Lotus is likely to form part of an area cluster development together with Kveikje and several other recent discoveries in the area, through infrastructure associated with the nearby Troll field. The Lotus prospect will be drilled using the Odfjell Drilling-managed Deepsea Yantai semi-submersible rig. Aside from the company, the license partnership includes DNO Norge (40%, operator) and Aker BP (30%).

Helge Hammer, Chief Executive of Longboat, commented: “We are pleased to have completed the farm-down of two Norwegian exploration licenses and look forward to the drilling of the Lotus exploration well later this year, the cost of which will be fully carried. This farm down is in line with our strategy to retain exposure to high-quality exploration wells but at minimum use of the company’s equity capital.”

Furthermore, the firm also divested a stake in production license 1049, lowering its interest from 40% to 25% in return for Concedo carrying 15% of the firm’s 2024 exploration expenditure, which mainly consists of seismic costs and studies. This license contains the Jasmine and Sjøkreps prospects. Longboat JAPEX elaborates that Sjøkreps is a fault-bounded three-way dip closure at the Palaeocene level, with preliminary estimated recoverable volumes ranging between 20 to 300 mmboe (P90-P10).

On the other hand, the Jasmine prospect is an injectite target at the Eocene level, which is analogous to the Kveikje discovery, with a recoverable volume range preliminarily estimated between 10 to 30 mmboe (P90-P10). Longboat JAPEX’s license partners are DNO Norge (40%, operator) and Petoro (20%).

“We are also pleased to have reached completion of our first production acquisition in Norway, which we also announced today and which is an important first step in building a full cycle E&P company with material production,” added Hammer.