Pandion to enter Equinor’s Apollonia prospect

Oil and gas company Pandion Energy has entered into an agreement with Equinor to acquire a 20 percent interest in licenses PL 263 D and PL 263 E, containing the offshore Apollonia prospect.

The licenses are located in the prolific Haltenbanken area of the Norwegian Sea in blocks 6407/1 and 6507/10, respectively.

The operator is currently maturing the Apollonia prospect, which in case of a positive drill decision by the partnership may be added to the operator’s exploration drilling program for 2020, Pandion said in a statement on Tuesday.

CEO of Pandion Energy, Jan Christian Ellefsen, commented: “Pandion is very pleased with this acquisition which represents our third exploration farm-in and the second in the Norwegian Sea. The Apollonia prospect is located in a very prolific area and makes up a valuable contribution to our growing portfolio of high quality exploration assets.”

PL 263 D was awarded in the 2017 APA round. PL 263 E is a new license to be carved out from PL 263, which was awarded in the 16th licensing round in the year 2000. Both licenses are operated by Equinor (70% before farm-down) with Spirit Energy Norway (30%) as a partner.

The transaction is contingent on completion of the carve-out of PL 263 E from PL 263 and is subject to customary conditions for completion, including approval by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.