(Alliance News) - Independent Oil & Gas PLC on Wednesday announced the purchase of the Thames reception facilities at the Bacton gas terminal.
The facilities are an area of land on which IOG's Thames pipeline connects to the terminal. It has gas and liquid reception equipment, IOG said, which it plans to refurbish and recommission.
The site has been purchased, for a nominal sum, from Perenco UK Ltd, Tullow Oil SK Ltd, and Spirit Energy Resources Ltd.
IOG now owns, it said, the reception facilities where all of its gas will land to shore, before being transporting to Perenco's Bacton terminal for processing and then sale into the UK market.
IOG owns a range of assets in the UK North Sea. It is currently drilling at Harvey and expects to spud the well on August 3, taking two months if successful.
Chief Executive Andrew Hockey said: "We are very pleased to have progressed to signing the Thames reception facilities agreement, which has required meticulous resolution of a number of legal complexities by working collaboratively with a range of parties.
"IOG is now set to be an infrastructure owner both offshore and onshore, which offers a substantial competitive advantage for an upstream company of our size and further de-risks our substantial proven gas portfolio."
"This is a key step in advancing our wider strategic and financing plans, in particular delivering a farm-out transaction to enable us to progress to a final investment decision at the earliest possible time," Hockey continued.
"In addition, we expect to spud the exciting Harvey appraisal well around the end of next week and look forward to drilling the well safely and successfully. Given its potential size and synergies with our other assets, Harvey has the potential to create significant shareholder value."
Shares were 9.3% higher on Wednesday at a price of 15.44 pence each.