PREMIER Oil has signed new agreements for the acquisition of BP’s Andrew and Shearwater assets in the North Sea.
The signing of the sale and purchase agreement reflected amended terms of the deal announced last month.
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The new terms would see Premier Oil pay BP a reduced price of $210m, funded via an equity raise.
Up to a further currently estimated $115m would become payable by Premier to BP based on higher future oil and gas prices.
The transaction, now expected to go through by the end of September, was initially expected to set Premier back £498 million ($625m), but a drop in oil and gas prices led to the deal be renegotiated.
Premier Oil said they remained conditional on agreeing the terms of the refinancing of Premier’s existing credit facilities, equity funding and customary other approvals, including shareholder approval.
Tony Durrant, chief executive officer, said: “The signing of the SPAs with BP is another important milestone in completing the value-accretive BP Acquisitions which consolidates the Group’s position in the UK North Sea, one of our core areas, while, at the same time, accelerates the deleveraging of our balance sheet.”
BP owns 50-100% of the five fields which make up the Andrew area and 27.5% of the Shell-operated Shearwater field.
