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Norway-Based DNO to buy Stake in Gjoa Offshore Asset From Var Energi

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Norwegian oil and gas operator DNO will buy a stake in a Var Energi asset that secures a coveted presence for the company in the offshore Gjoa hub, it said on Thursday.

DNO will buy a 5% stake in the Gjoa field operated by Var, paying for it with a 5% stake in Nova, a subsea field tied back to the Gjoa platform.

Upon completion, DNO's interest in Nova will fall to 40% down from 45% and DNO will also exit the Ringhorne discovery in a non-core area of the Central North Sea by selling its 15% stake in PL956 to Var, it said.

DNO will receive a $17.5 million cash payment as further consideration for the stake it sells.

"DNO has had a stake in every field tied back to Gjoa but not in the host itself. With this transaction, we climb onto the platform and just in time," said Executive Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani.

He said that the company now has five Gjoa tie-backs that are coming up for final investment decisions this year.

DNO's statement said it is confident it can hit a production target in the North Sea of 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2030, by accelerating its development of discovered resources.

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