Wireline Issue 45 - Summer 2019

(L-R) Neptune Energy CEO Jim House; executive chairman Sam Laidlaw.

"We’re looking to build a business that is not just successful in the UK but has a much broader geographic footprint."

acquired by Norway-based PE fund HitecVision and delisted from the Oslo Stock Exchange. The group’s Norwegian assets were folded into Spike Exploration, while Bridge was relaunched as the UKCS-focused Verus in 2014. Rather than taking over large portfolios, the team’s approach has been to buy into strategic assets with solid production, using the revenue to fund larger acquisitions. “We are essentially a business development deal-making team and that’s what we were formed to do, to build up a portfolio over a period of a few years,” explains chief executive Alan Curran. This was cemented in late 2016 when it acquired additional stakes in the Boa field, buying 9.8% from Maersk Oil and bringing its total hold to 11.3% – the whole UK portion of the Norwegian/UK cross-border field. “That transaction has proven to be a fabulous deal in that it’s exceeded our expectations,” he says. “We’ve drilled two wells since we bought the stake and the field continues to outperform our expectations. That was a very important step.” A tranche of subsequent deals in 2018 saw the company buy 17% of the Alba field from Equinor, a 47% interest in the Babbage field from Premier Oil and acquire the assets of Cieco Exploration & Production (UK) Limited from Itochu, which granted a 23.1% stake in Western Isles, among other fields. By the end of 2018 Verus’ production was around 18,000 bpd, with a resource base in excess of 60 million boe, and average lifting costs of $8/bbl. Zennor Petroleum has also sought to establish a solid bedrock of production, but places much more

Neptune Energy director of corporate affairs Julian Regan-Mears

w ire lin e | S u mm e r 2 019 | 2 9