Monday 2 July 2018

Italy based energy company Eni and leading private equity investor HitecVision announced an agreement to merge Point Resources AS into Eni Norge AS, and renaming the company Vår Energi AS. The combined entity will be a leading independent Norwegian Exploration & Production company, built on the existing organizations and leveraging on complementary strengths.

The portfolio of the combined company will have a wide geographical coverage, from the Barents Sea to the North Sea, producing around 180,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) this year from a portfolio of 17 producing oil and gas fields. The company will have reserves and resources of more than 1,250 million barrels of oil equivalent (Mboe).

Production is expected to reach 250,000 boepd by 2023 after developing more than 500 Mboe in ten existing assets, with a breakeven price of less than 30 USD per barrel. In total, the company plans to invest more than NOK 65 billion (USD 8 billion) over the next five years to bring these projects on stream, revitalize older fields and explore for new resources. The extended presence in the Norwegian waters will allow the company also to expand further its portfolio through both future exploration bid rounds and M&A transactions.

The new company will have a total of about 800 employees, including both offshore and onshore staff. HSE performance, projects delivery and production efficiency will be priority areas for the management. Kristin F. Kragseth, currently Vice President Production of Point Resources AS, will become CEO of the combined entity, while Philip D. Hemmens will be the Chairman of the Board. Both Hemmens and Mauritzen will remain in their respective positions until completion of the merger.

Vår Energi AS will be jointly owned by Eni (69.6%) and by HitecVision (30.4%). The shareholders have agreed the key strategy and objective of the company.

The combination has been agreed between the owners of the two companies, and the ordinary consultations with employees and unions will now be initiated, as will an integration project with broad participation from both organizations. The combination is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.

About Eni Norge

Eni Norge was founded as Norsk Agip in 1965, and was active at the Ekofisk field from 1971. Eni Norge discovered the Goliat field in the Barents Sea in 2000, and is now producing from all the regions of the Norwegian continental shelf. The company is operator for two fields in production, Marulk (since 2012) and Goliat (since 2016). Eni Norge has ownership interests in 55 licences and is operator of 12, of which 7 are in the Barents Sea.

About Point Resources

Point Resources was formed in 2016 from the merger of HitecVision portfolio companies Core Energy, Spike Exploration and Pure E&P. In 2017 Point acquired the Norwegian operated business of ExxonMobil, including the majority of ExxonMobil’s upstream staff in Norway, and maintains the heritage of ExxonMobil’s more than 50 years of operations on the NCS. The company is operator of the Balder and Ringhorne fields.

Point Resources has ownership interests in 50 licenses and is operator of 11, including the historic license number 001 (PL 001), the first license to be awarded on the shelf.