Euroil: Tulip divests Dutch fields

Dutch firm Tulip Oil has agreed to sell a group of gas fields in the Netherlands’ offshore zone to AIM-listed investment group Kistos for at least €220mn ($263mn), the companies said on March 12.

Tulip will sell its subsidiary Tulip Oil Netherlands, which owns operating interests in the Q-10A gas field and the Q-10B, Q-11B and M10/M11 discoveries, as well as other projects in the Dutch North Sea.

Kistos will settle the €220mn sum through cash, a new debt instrument and by providing some of its equity to Tulip, as well as assuming and refinancing an existing bond instrument issued by the Dutch producer. It is working with advisors in Norway on options for obtaining the new debt.

The investment firm will also issue €5mn in warrants to Tulip at a 30% premium to the price of any equity placing, as well as up to €163mn in contingency payments payable when certain development milestones are met.

The deal’s closure will require various regulatory and other consents.

Over in the UK North Sea, operators reduced flaring by 22% in 2020, with the overall volume declining to 33bn cubic feet (934mn cubic metres), according to the Oil & Gas Authority (OGA). But overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions increased, the state upstream regulator said.

Flaring volumes were at their lowest level on record, the OGA said. While production decline as a result of weak prices was a contributing factor, gas flaring per barrel of oil produced also fell, from 114 cubic feet to 95 cubic feet, representing a 10-year low. This is also the third year in a row that per-barrel volumes have declined.

GHG emissions had dropped significantly between 2018 and 2019 but rose to 0.42 bcf last year to 3.6 bcf. Emissions of methane, a highly potent GHG, fell 0.07 to 0.79 bcf, but CO2 emissions grew 0.49 to 2.8 bcf.

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