Norwegian oil and gas operator DNO has announced the sale of a 7.604% stake in the Ekofisk Previously Produced Fields (PPF) project in licences PL018B and PL018F to Orlen Upstream Norway.
These licences are in the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS).
The company will retain its 7.604% stake in PL018, which comprises the producing fields Ekofisk, Eldfisk and Embla, as well as its share in the Tor Unit.
Meanwhile, DNO will acquire a 20% stake from Orlen in PL1135, which contains the Cassio prospect, as well as a 0.8272% interest in the Verdande field.
The acquisition of additional interests in Verdande will take DNO’s total interest in the Verdande Unit, which contains five licences, to 14.8251%.
This includes a 3.5% stake from the recently announced asset swap with Aker BP.
Verdande, located in the Norne area, is presently in advanced development and is scheduled to begin production later this year.
The Cassio prospect is located directly north of DNO-operated PL1086, which includes the Othello discovery. DNO holds a 50% interest in PL1086.
An exploration well on this prospect is expected late next year.
DNO executive chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani said: “As we continue to high-grade our North Sea portfolio, our focus is on increasing near-term cash flow with less spend and more barrels more quickly.
“Ekofisk PPF covers redevelopment of older, shut-in fields with expected production start in 2029, and while the project fits other companies’ portfolios, we have chosen to deploy our share of the significant capital expenditure necessary in ways that play to our strengths, namely exploration and rapid-fire development of our existing discoveries.”
In a separate development, DNO and its partners have drilled a dry well located in the Page prospect of the southern North Sea using the Noble Intrepid rig.
Exploration well 2/6-8 S and technical sidetrack 2/6-8 ST2, located within production licence 1086, were drilled. This is the same area where the 2/6-7 S Othello oil discovery was made the previous year.
The aim of this drilling was to prove oil in Palaeocene reservoir rocks in the Borr Member in the Våle Formation.
In line with expectations, this well encountered the Våle Formation and Ekofisk Formation; however, the Borr Member was only marked by thin sandstone layers.
The well has been designated as dry and will be permanently plugged and abandoned.
PL1086 was awarded in 2021 and is the second exploration well drilled in this production licence, according to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate.
