Equinor has agreed to divest a 19.5% stake in two production licences (PLs) in the Norwegian North Sea’s Gina Krog area to PGNiG Upstream Norway for an undisclosed price.
The licences involved in the deal are PL 048E, which contains the Eirin gas field, and PL 1201. The second licence, PL 1201, was awarded by the Norwegian Ministry of Energy as part of the Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) licensing round 2024.
Currently, Equinor has a stake of 78.2% in both PL 048E and PL 1201, while PGNiG has a 21.8% stake.
After the transaction, the ownership of the two North Sea licences between Equinor and PGNiG will align with that of the Gina Krog field. Equinor has a 58.7% stake in Gina Krog field while the remaining stake of 41.3% is held by PGNiG.
The plan for development and operation (PDO) for Eirin was approved in January 2024. It will be developed as a subsea facility tied back to the Gina Krog platform.
The subsea template for the offshore gas field is currently under construction in Egersund and is scheduled for installation in the summer of 2024.
The Eirin field has an estimated 27.6 million barrels of recoverable reserves, with the majority consisting of natural gas.
Equinor stated that any discoveries made in the PL 1201 licence could leverage Eirin’s infrastructure, connecting back to the Gina Krog platform.
Equinor late-life fields senior vice president Camilla Salthe said: “Balanced partnerships will make it easier to coordinate decisions in the licences to optimise production and enhance value creation from the area.
“Together with the electrification of the platform, the Eirin development will extend the lifetime of the Gina Krog field, which supplies gas to Europe with low emissions from production and transport.”
According to Equinor, the economic effective date for the stake transfers is 1 January 2024 and the closing of the deal is subject to ministry approval.
