* Bids for entire business come in at $1.2 bln to $2 bln
* Chrysaor seen as front runner with highest offer
* Rockrose, HitecVision, Equinor also among bidders
By Shadia Nasralla and Ron Bousso
LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Bids for North Sea oil and gas
firm Siccar Point, backed by private equity groups Blackstone
and Blue Water Energy, came in at between $1.2 billion
and just under $2 billion, according to three industry sources.
Bidders in the first round, which ended on Nov. 7, include
EIG-backed Chrysaor, private equity fund HitecVision, North
Sea-focused oil and gas group RockRose and Norwegian oil
major Equinor, the sources said.
Chrysaor is seen as the front-runner in the process, with
the highest bid for the company of just below $2 billion.
Rockrose's bid came in at around $1.2 billion, according to the
sources.
Siccar Point's owners have offered the entire company for
sale as well as five separate asset packages. HitecVision bid
for particular assets, the sources said.
Equinor placed a bid for the whole or part of the business,
possibly in partnership with Canadian oil and gas producer
Suncor Energy, they added.
Siccar Point became a major North Sea player after acquiring
OMV's portfolio for $870 million in January 2017. Its owners
have not disclosed how much they have since invested in the
company.
Consultancy WoodMackenzie has valued the portfolio at about
$2 billion.
In a presentation at an industry conference in London last
month, Blue Water said private equity firms typically aim for
two to three times return on capital invested in around five
years.
Siccar Point is wooing potential buyers with just under 600
million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in resources and
reserves, including more oil than gas, a sale document showed.
Such yet-to-be-exploited barrels can be attractive to some
of the private-equity backed firms that have bought ageing North
Sea assets from oil majors in recent years and are looking for
future growth ahead of a potential stock market listing or sale.
Siccar Point sees its output reaching about 80,000 barrels
of oil equivalent per day (boed) by about 2027 from just over
10,000 boed currently. Beyond this, output will mainly be
boosted by the Cambo development north-west of Shetland.
Among other smaller stakes, Siccar Point holds 70% in the
Cambo field alongside Shell, 11.8% in the BP-operated
Schiehallion field and 20% and 9% respectively in the
Equinor-operated Rosebank and Mariner fields.
The portfolio offers production and exploration
opportunities, including 1.4 billion boe in yet-to-be drilled
prospects and leads in the West of Shetland area, where majors
like BP, Shell and Equinor are boosting North Sea production.
Siccar Point would offer a potential buyer $2 billion in
so-called tax losses in Britain, which would "shelter profits,
with no tax payments expected until (the) late 2020s," according
to the sale document sent to potential buyers.
Chrysaor, Blackstone, Equinor, RockRose and HitecVision
declined to comment. Suncor did not immediately reply to a
request for comment.
(Additional reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Jan
Harvey)