Serica Energy has this morning announced it has signed an agreement to acquire the entirety of BP's stake in two central North Sea licences.
The deal involves the P111 licence - containing the Culzean gas condensate field - and P2544 licence - an exploration licence adjacent to the P111 licence.
Completion of the deal in the UK central North Sea, which involves an upfront cash consideration of $232million, is subject to the waiver of applicable pre-exemption rights.
Chris Cox, Serica's CEO, stated: "Should this transaction complete, it would deliver a step-change for Serica, adding material production and cash flows from the largest producing gas field in the UK.
"Culzean is a world-class asset, delivering gas from a modern platform with exceptionally high uptime and low emissions."
The Culzean field, operated by TotalEnergies, is currently the largest single producing gas field in the UK North Sea.
As per the terms of the joint operating agreement between the Culzean field partners, the Proposed Acquisition announced today is subject to a pre-emption period which runs for 30 days, with each of the Culzean field partners (TotalEnergies, 49.99%, and NEO NEXT, 18.01%) having the option to acquire BP's stake in the licences on the same terms as those agreed by Serica.