There is an agreement between Oslo and Vienna. Austrian oil company OMV will buy assets worth $2,65 billion in oil fields in the North Sea and off Britain from Norwegian giant Statoil. Omv has also optioned shares in 11 Statoil drilling licenses in the Faroe Islands and Norway.
The move by the Austrians is part of a plan to increase production to 350 barrels a day by 2016. Thanks to the acquisitions, the figure could rise to 400. A less risky adventure in more stable territories, that of OMV, which has already had to face problems in Libya, where before the riots it produced around 33 barrels a day, and in Yemen, where the oil infrastructures are constantly under attack.
OMV will buy 19 percent of the Gullfaks field, 24 percent of the Gudrun platform, currently under development, 30 percent of Rosebank and about 6 percent of Schiehallion.
The deal will reduce Statoil's daily production by 60 barrels by 2016, but will have no impact on the goal of 2,5 million barrels per day by 2020. "The deal - he explains to Wall Street Journal Norwegian oil company CEO Helge Lund – is part of managing and optimizing the value of our portfolio. We will collect over a billion dollars and redistribute around 7 billion in spending. The investments will be on the resources we already have, we are not willing to start an acquisition plan".
According to OMV, the transaction will close by the end of 2013 and is subject to government approval in Oslo and London.
