STRICKEN Canadian oil and gas company Oilexco said yesterday it had obtained a court order allowing it to liquidate its remaining assets and reach a compromise agreement with creditors.
Oilexco, whose assets were mainly held in UK North Sea-focused Oilexco North Sea (ONS) – sold earlier this year to Premier Oil – now has an order to allow the company and remaining subsidiary Oilexco Technical Services to liquidate assets.
Its aim is to put forward a “plan of compromise and arrangement to creditors”, which it says will distribute all net proceeds from the liquidation to creditors in proportion to each proven claim by September 30.
Oilexco said: “After the liquidation has concluded and the proceeds have been distributed to creditors, there is not expected to be any remaining assets of value for shareholders.”
It added that all employees would be paid off by the end of this month except for those deemed by Oilexco and approved by court-appointed monitor Ernst and Young as essential in the liquidation process, who would be retained on a contract basis.
Premier Oil agreed in April to pay £346million for ONS and its assets.
ONS went into administration in January after failing to secure additional funding from its lenders for its aggressive exploration programme.
Marathon Oil said yesterday it had agreed to sell most of its interest in block 32 offshore Angola to Chinese companies CNOOC and Sinopec in a deal worth more than £790million, but that it would retain a 10% stake in the block.
The licence area includes 12 previously announced discoveries, and conceptual development studies are under way to establish the feasibility of a first development area in the block.