ExxonMobil considers sale of UK North Sea assets

Energy company ExxonMobil reportedly held talks with several North Sea operators with regard to the sale of its assets in the UK North Sea.

Citing industry sources, Reuters said that the deal could generate more than £1.6bn (approximately $2bn).

The latest move follows the sale of UK portfolios by US operators ConocoPhillips and Chevron to Chrysaor and Ithaca, respectively, this year.

In April, Conoco closed a £2bn sale of its UK assets to Chrysaor while Chevron sold its portfolio to Ithaca for £1.6bn in the very next month.

ExxonMobil is responsible for around 5% of the UK’s oil and gas production, through its deal with Royal Dutch Shell in the early days of North Sea oil exploration in the 1960s.

The proposed sale includes interests in 40 oil and gas fields, most of which are operated by Shell, as part of its 50-50 joint venture (JV) known as Esso Exploration and Production UK.

This includes a stake in the Brent oilfield of North Sea, which is currently in the decommissioning phase.

Both ExxonMobil and Shell declined to comment on the deal.

Exxon also has interests in fields operated by Total, Apache, CNR International, Equinor, ConocoPhillips and Wintershall DEA.

Exxon produces nearly 80,000boe/d and 441mcf/d of gas in the British North Sea.

Earlier this month, the company announced results for the second quarter of this year, reporting earnings of $3.1bn, a decrease of 15% from $4bn in the same period last year.

This June, W&T Offshore signed an agreement to acquire ExxonMobil’s interests in and operatorship of oil and gas producing assets in the eastern region of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) offshore Alabama in a $200m deal.