Aberdeen-based Verus Petroleum has said it is moving to the “next phase” of growth after a 12-fold increase in its oil and gas production.
The operator has been snapping up North Sea assets over the last year, including a £300m deal in September for Cieco Exploration & Production.
More recently, it has completed deals with Equinor and Premier Oil, and has seen its daily production grow from 1,500 to 18,000 barrels of oil per day.
Chief executive Alan Curran said the firm has a plan to secure operatorship of assets in the short to medium-term and continue its drive for acquisitions.
Verus, backed by private-equity firm HitecVision, has secured an increased loan deal with seven banks, based on its higher level of reserves, at £395.6m, which will help continue the growth plan.
Mr Curran said: “HitecVision’s continued support provides Verus with a solid capital base. This is a robust foundation for further growth.
“We are now looking to reinvest the cash flow from these assets in further long-life production and development opportunities.”
Verus announced its arrival to the North Sea after taking a stake in the Boa field from Maersk Oil in January last year.
The £300m Cieco deal in September brought Verus a 23.1% stake in the Western Isles floating production, storage and offloading vessel, one of the UK’s top producing assets.
It also delivered stakes in the Hudson field, the Brent pipeline system, and Sullom Voe terminal.
Then today the firm completed deal with Equinor for a 17% interest in the Alba field in the central North Sea.
Mr Curran added that Verus wants to become one of the leading independent operators in the basin.
He said:“We are delighted to have completed these transactions which are aligned with our strategy to expand our production base and cash flow through the acquisition of high-quality production assets.
“Long-term, our aim is to build a full-cycle E&P company of scale.
“We now have a diversified portfolio of high-value barrels with low lifting costs in predominantly long-life fields with very strong cash generation, giving us the platform to achieve that aim.
“Our acquisition in the Boa oil field in 2017 announced our arrival; the completion of these three deals – within a matter of months – is a strong show of our resolve to become one of the leading independents in the basin.”
Verus is among several private-equity-backed firms entering the North Sea.
Chrysaor, which is backed by Harbour Energy, an investment vehicle of EIG Global Energy Partners, bought interests in 10 fields from Shell for £3 billion last year, while Siccar Point Energy and Neptune Energy have also made large acquisitions.
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