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MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Corp said it
would sell its non-operating interest in its UK and North Sea exploration and
production assets to private-equity fund HitecVision for more than USD1 billion,
said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
Exxon
has been looking to sell its oil and gas assets since late 2019, seeking to free
up cash to focus on a handful of mega-projects. The deal includes ownership
interests in 14 producing fields operated primarily by Shell as well as
interests in the associated infrastructure. Exxon could also receive about
USD300 million in contingent payments based on a potential for increase in
commodity prices.
Exxon's share of production from these fields was about
38,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2019, the company said. Exxon said
it would retain its non-operated share in upstream assets in the southern part
of the North Sea as well as its interest in the Shell Esso gas and liquids
(SEGAL) infrastructure, which supplies ethane to the company's Fife ethylene
plant.
HitecVision, in partnership with Eni, had bought Exxon's Norwegian
North Sea assets for USD4.5 billion in 2019.
Initially, Exxon hoped to
raise more than USD2 billion from the sale, which was planned for late 2019. In
June 2020 sources told Reuters that the portfolio was more likely to fetch USD1
to USD1.5 billion given the oil price weakness last year.
As MRC informed before,
earlier this week, ExxonMobil Corp said it will close its 72-year-old Altona
refinery in Australia, the country’s smallest, and convert it to a fuel import
terminal as refiners struggle with low demand.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report,
Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2%
year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density
polyethylene (HDPE) increased.
ExxonMobil is the largest non-government
owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world"s oil
and about 2% of the world's energy. |
