PetroNor completes acquisition of Panoro’s interest in OML 113

BY Habeeb Ahmed, with agency report.

Norwegian junior PetroNor E&P has completed its acquisition of a key stake in the Aje condensate, gas and oilfield offshore Nigeria, 33 months after it first announced the deal.

This deal will trigger a redevelopment on the shallow water field close to Lagos and the West African Gas Pipeline, with the focus on commercialising its 1.1 trillion cubic feet of gas, Upstream reports.

Oslo-listed PetroNor has bought Panoro Energy’s 15.1 percent effective economic interest in Oil Mining Lease 113, which hosts the producing Aje field, for $10 million worth of new PetroNor shares, with its stake expected to rise to 20.2 percent over three years.

The transaction also involves a contingent consideration of up to $16.67 million based on future gas production volumes.

This acquisition clears the path for the establishment of the Aje Production joint venture to operate the field, with PetroNor holding 52 percent in the venture and Nigeria’s Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum (YFP) 48 percent.

“We are pleased to confirm that this long-awaited transaction with Panoro has now been completed,” said Jens Pace, PetroNor’s interim chief executive.

Pace said the acquisition of the ownership interest in the Aje field is strategically attractive and supports PetroNor’s stated growth strategy of acquiring assets that add production, material reserves and resources to the company.

“With the establishment of Aje Production, YFP and PetroNor will form a dynamic and effective licence partnership to lead the redevelopment of the Aje field,” he said.

Osamede Okhomina, chief executive of Aje partner ADM Energy, said the conclusion of PetroNor’s acquisition of Panoro’s interest in OML 113 marks a significant event as it “allows us to further concentrate on accelerating the development plans for Aje”.

“PetroNor’s decision to acquire a stake in the Aje field is a strong endorsement of the quality and considerable potential of the asset and we look forward to working with them to take Aje to the next stage,” Okhomina said.

Aje has been producing liquids via the Front Puffin floating production storage offloading vessel, while gas was flared.

The new operating joint venture has a redevelopment plan that could see production running at about 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

This new plan aims to commercialise Aje’s gas resources by piping it to Lagos to feed a 500 megawatt power plant.