Private investment firm Elliott Management will provide US$500 million in funding to newly established Edge Petroleum AS’s management team.
Norway-based Edge will focus on building a portfolio of oil and gas fields in the development phase, supported by production and near-field exploration, on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, Elliot Management said in a June 8 press statement.
Edge will be led by Norwegian industry veterans Bjørn Inge Tønnessen and Walter Sognnes. Sognnes was one of the founders of Revus Energy in 2003, a successful full cycle oil company subsequently acquired by Wintershall in 2008. Tønnessen and Sognnes were two of the founders of Spike Exploration in 2012, now part of Point Resources.
Tønnessen, the company’s CEO, said Edge sees several interesting market opportunities.
“Many new and old discoveries are now going into the development phase, and more are expected in the years to come,” Tønnessen explained. “Being backed by a financially strong investor like Elliott, we believe we can benefit from this situation and build a valuable oil company”.
“The team members have extensive oil industry experience and have repeatedly proven that they know how to successfully develop start-up companies on the Norwegian Continental Shelf,” Iain Gunn, Portfolio Manager at Elliott, said.
Edge will have offices in Stavanger and Oslo.
Swedbank acted as financial advisor to the Edge management team.