Singapore — Jadestone Energy said in a statement late Monday that it has acquired a 100% stake in Australia’s Montara oil project from Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production.
The deal will see Jadestone Energy make a cash payment of $195 million to PTTEP.
The Montara oil project consists of three oil producing fields — Montara, Skua and Swift/Swallow. Crude oil output from the field is around 10,300 b/d.
The project is located in the Timor Sea, about 690km west of Darwin, Australia.
“Today’s announced acquisition further strengthens our position in the Asia Pacific region and complements our existing balanced, low-risk portfolio of cash generative operated production and value-accretive development assets in the region,” Jadestone president and chief executive Paul Blakeley said in the statement.
Jadestone currently owns and operates the 3,800 b/d Stag oil field, located offshore Western Australia. It also has assets in Vietnam and the Phillipines.
Blakeley said the Montara field life is expected to be extended “by many years” due to “improved production uptime, operating cost reductions, and infill drilling, and longer-term more value creation options through future exploration, a potential gas cap blowdown and a regional hub development strategy”.
Completion of the purchase is subject to regulatory approval. The transaction is expected to close in September or October 2018, Jadestone said.
The Montara oil field was discovered by BHP Billiton in 1988 and produced around 30,000 b/d of crude oil at its peak. It was acquired by PTTEP in December 2008.
Montara crude from the field is rarely seen offered in the spot market as output is reserved for Thailand’s domestic refineries. PTT typically ships an Aframax-sized cargo of Montara crude to Thailand every one-two months.
The decision by PTTEP to sell off the Montara project stake was likely due to declining output, industry sources said.
“We expect natural decline in some crude-oil based assets such as the Vietnam 16-1 Project and the Montara Project,” a PTTEP source previously said.
–Andrew Toh, [email protected]
–Gawoon Philip Vahn, [email protected]
–Edited by Norazlina Juma’at, [email protected]
Source: S&P Global Platts
