Independent energy producer Viaro Energy is reportedly nearing a deal to buy Shell and ExxonMobil’s jointly-owned gas fields in the southern North Sea.
Citing three industry and banking sources, Reuters said that the potential deal is valued around $500 million.
The proposal would see Viaro Energy take the two supermajors’ stakes in the Clipper and Leman Alpha field clusters.
According to Reuter’s sources, the deal is close to being agreed but there are no guarantees that it will be signed.
Larger oil companies have been retreating from the ageing North Sea basin in favour of newer and more profitable regions.
Industry rumours pointed to Chevron as another supermajor aiming to exit the UK North Sea and end the company’s 55-year history in the area.
Chevron’s UK North Sea assets include a 19.4% stake in the BP-operated Clair oilfield in the West of Shetland, as well as interests in the Sullom Voe oil terminal and the Ninian and SIRGE pipeline systems.
The deal would mark Exxon’s exit from the North Sea, where it has been present since 1964, after selling most of its assets in the central and northern North Sea to Neo Energy in 2021.
It would also mark the dissolution Exxon and Shell’s Esso joint venture, which entered the North Sea in 1965.
Viaro Energy has been expanding across the North Sea with several major acquisitions in recent months.
The group was given the regulatory green light to join one of the largest undeveloped oil finds in the UK North Sea.
It acquired a 15% stake in the Bressay project and the EnQuest Producer FPSO in a £46m deal, marking its expansion into the Northern North Sea from its core operating grounds in the Central and Southern sector.
It also acquired a 100% working interest the P2593 licence in the West of Shetland through its wholly owned subsidiary, RockRose Energy.
This included the Tuck gas discovery and 50% interests in each of the Boulmer, Cherry and Sammy exploration prospects.
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