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* Premier wants to lower deal price by $70-$80 mln -sources
* BP agreed in June to sweeten terms of deal
By Clara Denina and Ron Bousso
LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Struggling oil and gas producer
Premier Oil has begun talks with BP to lower for
the second time a $210 million deal to acquire stakes in two
North Sea oilfields, sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
Premier is seeking to reduce the cash payment to BP by $70
to $80 million while it attempts to raise $530 million in order
to pay for the acquisition and restructure a debt pile of almost
$2 billion, three sources close to the talks told Reuters.
The effort comes as Premier is also in talks with rival
private equity-backed North Sea producer Chrysaor for an
alternative funding option.
Both BP and Premier Oil declined to comment.
This is the second time Premier has asked BP to sweeten the
terms of the $625 million deal announced in January
2020.
In June, following the collapse of oil and gas prices due to
the coronavirus epidemic, BP agreed to reduce Premier's cash
payment to a total of $210 million and retain costs associated
with the abandonment of the Andrew and Shearwater
fields.
Premier Oil's CEO Tony Durrant expected the cashflow from
the acquisition to help lower the company's ballooning debt
which dwarfs its market cap of 153 million pounds ($194.75
million) as of Wednesday.
The acquisition of the BP fields will help push Premier's
output to 100,000 barrel of oil equivalent per day from around
67,000 boe/d currently.
($1 = 0.7856 pounds)
(Additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla;Editing by Elaine
Hardcastle)
