New offshore player 1947 Oil & Gas enters US Gulf

A new oil and gas company, 1947 Oil & Gas, has entered the US Gulf of Mexico by agreeing to acquire Renaissance Offshore.

The company was founded by Talos Energy’s founder, Tim Duncan, along with Goldman Sachs’ former global head of commodities research, Jeff Currie, and Cove Energy’s founder, Ivan Murphy. Duncan will serve as 1947’s executive, with Currie acting as non-executive director and Murphy serving as president.

The company’s website describes the founders as having “deep expertise across capital markets, asset development and offshore operations”. It also highlights he “combination of Duncan’s extensive Gulf of America operational experience, Currie’s commodities markets insight and Murphy’s proven track record in building and monetising listed resource companies creates a leadership group of exceptional calibre”.

The company, named 1947 Oil & Gas because the first offshore oil well completed beyond sight of land, the Kermac No. 16 well in the Gulf’s Ship Shoal Block 32, was drilled in 1947. The company’s website describes this milestone as introducing fixed offshore platform drilling and setting the foundation for modern offshore exploration.

Today, 1947’s strategy entails “acquiring producing oil and gas assets to deliver maximum returns for investors”. The acquisition of Renaissance represents the first step in this strategy.

Renaissance was founded in 2011 to acquire and develop legacy oilfields in the Gulf, according to its website. The company says it specialises in production optimisation and field development through drilling and workovers, with the goal of maximising oil recovery in mature fields. Over the course of 2012-14, it acquired 16 producing fields in the region, taking on operatorship in 15 of them and 100% ownership in most.

The Renaissance assets will now form 1947’s operational base. The shallow-water assets currently produce 3,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) and 1947 is targeting an increase in output to over 4,000 boepd in 2027.

Additionally, 1947 is planning to list on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in the second quarter of this year.