North Sea oil firm Dana Petroleum has added to its share of the Bittern field after a multimillion-pound deal with Hess.
The acquisition of Hess’s 28.3% stake in Bittern, believed to be for about £125million, means Dana now has a 33% share of the development.
Dana, owned by Korean national oil firm KNOC, said Hess had relinquished operatorship of the Triton floating production vessel at Bittern and added that it wanted to operate the facility.
The deal will add 2million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per year to Dana’s UK production, taking its annual volume to 17million boe.
Bittern is expected to produce 5,500 barrels of oil per day this year.
Dana chief executive Marcus Richards said: “This is a significant deal for Dana, which supports our goal to double production to more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day by 2016, as we strive to become a leading international oil and gas company operating in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“We have made extensive preparations, working closely with Hess, to enable a smooth transition should Dana become the new operator of Triton.”
Dana’s partners in Bittern, around 125 miles east of Aberdeen, are Shell, Endeavour and ExxonMobil.
Dana said last month it would spend about £653million a year to meet its 2016 target.
It said it wanted to expand into new areas, specifically in the Middle East, plus grow in Egypt, Africa and the UK, including through partnering and acquisition. The company, which plans to move its Aberdeen HQ from Carden Place to Centrica’s former offices in King’s Close, said it wanted to drill six exploration wells in the UK North Sea this year, up from two in 2011.
It employs around 120 people in the Granite City, and plans to grow this to about 200.