In connection with the acquisition, and as part of a corporate refinancing initiative, the company has agreed terms with the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) for the provision of a $900m term loan and revolving credit facility to be fully underwritten by RBC.
The acquisition provides Dana with a significant growth step in a third core area in Europe and a complementary asset base in the North Sea. It provides Dana with an additional 31million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) of proved and probable (2P) reserves and 51mmboe of proved, probable and possible (3P) reserves at December 31, 2009, and unrisked prospective resources of up to a further 67mmboe across the Petro Canada Netherlands portfolio (20mmboe on a risked basis).
Petro Canada Netherlands’ net production this year, to end April 2010, averaged 12,136boepd with the annual maintenance shut-downs on the De Ruyter and Hanze fields yet to occur.
The acquisition has increased Dana’s previous 2010 production guidance by some 10-12% on an annualized basis, subject to timing of deal completion. Dana estimates that its production will increase by 8,000-9,000boepd in 2011, equivalent to a 20-25% increase in previous guidance for the Dana Group, with a production increase of 10,000-14,000boepd in 2012 as new projects are brought onstream in The Netherlands.
Also, it takes Dana’s total number of producing fields to 54 from 36 currently, (this includes 15 new offshore fields and three new onshore fields).
Petro Canada Netherlands has interests in a number of currently producing fields, namely the De Ruyter (54.07%) and Hanze (45%) oil fields, which are both operated by Petro Canada Netherlands, the Petro Canada Netherlands operated Hanze gas field (27%) and a number of non-operated gas interests in the L05b&c (30%) and L08b area (25-30%) operated by Wintershall, and the P15 area (9-11%) and P18 area (0.7-4%) operated by the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA).
In addition, Petro Canada Netherlands has a 12% equity interest in the Alkmaar (PGI) gas storage project operated by TAQA. Gas production in the Netherlands has the added benefit of a strong oil price linkage in the commercial gas sales agreements.
Tom Cross, CEO of Dana Petroleum, said: “This transaction represents Dana’s fourth international acquisition in the past three years and is the most significant and exciting development in the company’s history. It builds upon our portfolio approach to the E&P business and provides a significant production and reserve growth step for the group.”
