Blackstone Gets Final Bids for North Sea Oil Producer

Siccar Point Energy Ltd., the North Sea oil producer backed by Blackstone Group Inc., has received final bids from suitors including Chrysaor Holdings Ltd. and Equinor ASA, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Canada’s Suncor Energy Inc., Chinese oil major Cnooc Ltd. and a company backed by private equity firm HitecVision AS also submitted binding offers, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Many proposals fell short of the price expectations of Siccar Point’s owners, and some parties expressed interest only in certain assets, they said.

Blackstone and Blue Water Energy LLP were earlier planning to seek about $2 billion to $3 billion from a sale of Siccar Point, the people said. They are now evaluating the bids and will decide whether to proceed with a transaction or hold on to the business for longer, the people said.

Siccar Point’s owners started gauging interest from potential buyers last year. The company has grown through acquisitions including the $1 billion purchase of OMV AG’s U.K. unit in 2016, a deal that cemented its footprint in the British North Sea.

Representatives for Blackstone, Chrysaor, Cnooc, Equinor, HitecVision, Siccar Point and Suncor declined to comment, while a representative for Blue Water didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The North Sea will continue to be an active spot for oil and gas deals this year, after $15 billion of assets changed hands in 2019, consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd. said this month. Private-equity buyers have come in as larger companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. sold projects to focus on more profitable regions.

Siccar Point has stakes in six projects including Rosebank, one of the U.K.’s largest undeveloped fields. The company’s overall output is expected at 16,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day this, rising to 80,000 a day by the second half of the 2020s, according to documents seen by Bloomberg last year.

The Rosebank and Schiehallion projects are in waters west of the Shetland islands, a less developed area where majors still hold a strong presence. BP Plc operates the Schiehallion field, while Equinor is operator of the Rosebank development.

Source: Bloomberg

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