Jersey Oil & Gas has completed the acquisition of operatorship and a 70% working interest from Equinor in the UK North Sea license containing the Verbier discovery in the UK from Equinor.
The consideration for the acquisition consists of two milestone payments and a royalty based on volumes produced from the Verbier Upper Jurassic (J62-J64) reservoir oil discovery (the "Verbier discovery").
As previously reported, JOG will pay $3 million to Equinor upon sanctioning by the UK's Oil & Gas Authority ("OGA") of the Verbier Field Development Plan ("FDP"), and it would pay $5 million upon first oil from the Verbier Field.
Furthermore, there are certain royalty payments on the first 35 million barrels of oil produced from the Verbier Field calculated on the basis of a 70% working interest for on-block volumes.
JOG said Wednesday that the acquisition provided JOG with an opportunity to create significant value through potentially developing the Verbier discovery as part of the Greater Buchan Area ("GBA") hub.
The company said that the Licence P2170, in which the Verbier find is located, also benefits from multiple material exploration prospects that have high-value potential through tie-backs to the proposed new GBA hub.
Andrew Benitz, CEO of Jersey Oil & Gas, commented: "I am pleased that JOG has completed this important step to acquire an additional interest and operatorship in the Verbier discovery together with material exploration upside to facilitate our plan to develop Verbier as part of our GBA development. We continue to make solid progress on concept select for the GBA and work closely with contractors, other area stakeholders and the OGA on this important project."
Equinor had farmed into Verbier back in 2016, taking 70 percent stake for around $2 million and a commitment to fund all costs up to US$25 million in respect of the first exploration well.