A newcomer to the UK North Sea has confirmed the support of its Dutch parent company after writing off £11million from the value of its oil and gas assets, citing low crude prices.
As a result of the impairment on its assets, which include a stake in the Sean licence, pre-tax losses at Oranje-Nassau Energie (ONE) UK widened to £12.4million in 2015 from £1.47million a year earlier.
ONE UK, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amsterdam-based ONE BV, also had net liabilities of £17.2million, according to accounts filed with Companies House.
It racked up revenues of £31.5million for the full-year 2015.
ONE UK entered the UK North Sea in June 2015 when it announced the purchase of 50% of the Sean field from Shell and Esso Exploration and Production UK, which each held 25%.
The remaining 50% of Sean is held by SSE E&P UK.
The deal gave ONE UK responsibility for operating Sean, which is in the southern sector of the North Sea, about 68 miles north-east of Lowestoft.
At the same time, ONE UK said it was opening a new office in Norwich to support its UK operations. The subsidiary had 11 employees as of year-end 2015.
ONE UK’s parent company funded the acquisition with intercompany loans.
Chief executive Alexander Berger said in the accounts, which he signed off at the end of September 2016, that the parent company was ready to back the ONE UK for at least another year.
Mr Berger, said: “As at the date of the accounts, ONE BV has confirmed it is providing support to finance the company, so as to enable it to meet its liabilities as they fall due, and carry on their business without curtailment of operations for a period not less than 12 months from the date of the approval of the accounts.
“As a result, the directors are satisfied that there will be adequate resources to continue in business for the foreseeable future and are unaware of anything to the contrary.”
ONE UK said 2016 would be a stronger year for the business, as it would benefit from a full-year cycle of output from Sean.
Directors at ONE UK, which also holds minority stakes in the Buzzard and Gead fields, said there would be no dividend for the year.
ONE BV has a number of interests in the Dutch North Sea and offshore Gabon.
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