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All very interesting but I'm struggling to locate exactly what and when AB mentioned them. Has the webcast been sanitised?
Might be AB trying to distance EnQuest from CNOOC. It doesn't hurt to say the product is good but the execution is terrible. The asset will always have a value. Look at Rhum. BP exited and Serica took a huge punt. The US waiver surprised me but the value of the gas field was never in question.
GE has been a bit of a disaster, it's unlikely we will get back anything like what we paid imo but I think it's a good move. It's not a distressed sell so you never know. Whatever happens it's interesting times to be a holder and the future looks bright
Wouldn't this be one of the reasons why ENQ wants to ditch the GE-stake?
https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/551646/the-threat-alone-is-something-security-experts-weigh-chinas-role-in-north-sea/
"Strain in the relationship between China and the UK has raised concerns about whether Chinese state-linked companies like CNOOC pose a potential threat to the UK’s energy security.
The UK and the EU have both taken recent actions against Chinese groups, ranging from accusations of cyberespionage to dominating energy supply chains. Against a backdrop of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, the role of foreign companies controlling energy infrastructure is coming under scrutiny. This is especially true for the UK, as the last decade has seen Chinese companies gain a larger presence in the North Sea."
"The issue is not a new one – politicians have warned that Chinese companies working in the North Sea pose a threat to the UK’s energy security. In 2023, chairman of the cross-party policy group Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) Iain Duncan Smith said the government was “failing to take seriously” the energy security threat posed by the involvement of China-backed groups in the UK’s oil and gas sector."
Other news, probably not so important : Steve Bowyer is appointed to the OEUK-board
https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/551724/oeuk-appoints-trio-of-north-sea-bosses-to-its-board/
Talking down CNOOC management of GE in the recent call a strange move if selling. Buyers aren’t stupid either - there’s likely to be clauses related to decomm etc as well
Occam's razor says you're right.
I do wonder if we are about to swap GE for Waldorfs share in Kraken?
There is another point to GE. As with the energy suppliers that multiplied like mopsy it is relatively easy to start an O&G company. Many energy suppliers went bust through ignorance and flawed business plans. (I was with Bulb that got taken over by Octopus).
It is easier to just supply the capital and let another company operate the field. I get the feeling that EnQuest was a reluctant buyer of GE and it was in the middle of Covid. I think we're just selling the stake to another company who DOESN'T want to run an oilfield or maybe suits another company for a variety of reason. It will be sold on the value of its numbers. There's always a price but for us we are playing to our strengths. Whose to say that CNOOC might not have plans of their own? China has a different approach towards commodities and time scales. Other countries and companies do too.
There are companies that could look at GE but not Bressay until it is at a different stage. There are plenty of companies that couldn't develop Bressay or Kraken from scratch. Even if they felt brave enough would they get past the regulator? People don't always realise just how hard it is to build the reputation that EnQuest has achieved. We probably would have gone bust without AB's leadership. This is our time now. Growth is returning.
Summer is coming.
We will soon know :-) it’s only 27% stake, but you are right as oil prices have risen quite a bit since then and we hit it chesp.
Any potential purchaser could currently take advantage of the investment clause that our clown that govern our country have added.
Shrewd move AB that’s what happens when a Director owns boat loads of shares 😉
Price now really roaring
I would hope its worth considerably more than $100m considering we bought it cheap for $325m
We will have no net debt at the end of this year at this rate 👍🏼
At least 100 million dollars is my guess. Happy days and a great move.
Remember we are yet to hear about the gas fund in Indonesia and there is lots of drilling planned this summer 👍🏼
What's it currently worth is the question we all want to know. Has a deal already been done for Jefferies to complete ?
As expected 18p next stop ….
Price now popped
''as it seeks to reduce debt levels''.....I do like comments like this from a company board
Possibly swapping one debt for another. AB gave the clue that Eagle wasn't benefitting from what we do best. Leaked today but who knows at what stage the negotiations are. I see this as a positive. Very encouraging.
*Reuters don't usually print without collaboration. This is possibly what The Telegraph were after.
Build it and they will come.
The more ENQ chip away at its debt the more virile and robust the company's equity becomes...more debt, less equity, less debt, more equity
We could do with the current production rates from GE and feedback on the new wells
Another consideration is that if EnQuest doesn't want it then who does? AB was less than complimentary about the production skills of CNOOC at the recent presentation. He wouldn't have said that off script. It would be intentional and these announcements are carefully placed at the right time by various parties. I think KO is spot on - another chess piece being moved. We could even make a profit.
I doubt it as we only paid £325m for it and it hasn't performed as it was meant to, but back then Covid was still a major issue and Brent was trading around $60.
We must have another deal on the table that we require the capital for.
Could this sale eliminate the debt?
LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - Britain's EnQuest is looking to sell its 27% stake in the Golden Eagle oilfield in the British North Sea as it seeks to reduce debt levels, two sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
It was unclear how much the sale of the non-operated stake would raise. The process is being run by investment bank Jefferies, the sources said.
A spokesperson for EnQuest declined to comment. A spokesperson for Jefferies also declined to comment.
EnQuest bought the Golden Eagle stake from Suncor in 2021 for $325 million - roughly equal to EnQuest market capitalisation at the time - to boost its production capacity by another 10,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
EnQuest has struggled in recent years with high debt levels and a drop in profits after Britain imposed a 35% windfall tax on North Sea producers after the surge in energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The company, headed by CEO Amjad Bseisu, reported a net loss of $31 million in 2023 and a net debt of $481 million, compared with $717 million a year earlier. Its current market capitalization is around 307 million pounds ($382 million).
EnQuest also announced in March its first shareholder distribution in the form of a $15 million share repurchase in 2024.
Shares in the company were up 0.1% early on Tuesday.
The Golden Eagle project is operated by Chinese-owned oil and gas firm CNOOC and includes the producing Golden Eagle, Peregrine, and Solitaire fields.
When the purchase was announced in February 2021, Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Swinney had said it would earn EnQuest around $13 million a month. The company also completed a $750 million debt refinancing in June 2021 to support the purchase.
EnQuest's website says Golden Eagle still has "significant development potential, including further sub-sea and platform infill drilling, with an anticipated field life extending into the early 2030s." ($1 = 0.8033 pounds) (Reporting by Ron Bousso in London and Deep Vakil in Bengaluru; editing by David Evans)
Nm