Tailwind Energy said today that it had agreed to buy fellow UK North Sea oil and gas firm Decipher Energy, of Aberdeen for an undisclosed sum.
Bosses at Tailwind said the deal would allow the London-based firm to continue to deploy its strategy of “exploiting organic production and near-term reserves growth opportunities whilst building out it portfolio”.
The transaction is subject to statutory regulatory and government approvals.
Tailwind was founded in 2016 by a management team boasting more than 200 years of experience in investment and exploration and production.
Backed by private commodities and energy group Mercuria, the company has been steadily expanding its UK North Sea portfolio in recent years.
Tailwind bought Shell and ExxonMobil’s stakes in the Triton cluster in September 2018.
It followed that deal up by swooping for the UK business of Houston-headquartered oil and gas firm EOG Resources later that year.
Decipher was formed in 2016 and led by Steve Bowyer, a former boss of now-defunct Aberdeen firm First Oil.
The firm’s revenues are generated by production from the Orlando field and its backing comes from US investment businesses Oaktree Capital and Sixth Street.
Decipher acquired an initial 75% of the field in April 2017 – when it struck a deal with the administrators of Iona Energy, which folded the previous year after failing to restructure its finances.
The company snapped up the remaining 25% of Orlando from Atlantic Petroleum, and subsequently revived a plan to develop the field as a tieback to CNR International’s Ninian Central platform.
First oil from Orlando was delivered in March 2019.
Decipher bosses said in November 2020 that they intended to replace electrical submersible pump systems (ESPs) on the Orlando well in an effort to boost production.
The field was expected to peak at about 10,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) but has failed to surpass 5,500bpd due to component failures.
Decipher was also considering a joint development of the Senna and Mansell fields, thought to boast recoverable resources of 30-66m and 4-7m barrels, respectively.
It is understood Decipher’s office on Queens Road, Aberdeen, will be retained, at least in the short term.
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