In today’s FT15 Feb 2019 08:10
When oil prices collapsed in 2014, the flow of money into energy projects in the North Sea dried up. Investments dropped to less than £500m in both 2016 and 2017, after reaching as much as £17bn in 2011. Companies, after all, were less keen to invest in new projects after their potential returns had just been marked down significantly.
But others have seen it as an opportunity to strike. In November 2016, Siccar Point Energy — backed by Blackstone and Blue Water Energy — purchased the North Sea assets of Austria’s OMV for $1bn. It marked a turning point for the region’s fortunes.
Over the past two years a number of new companies have burst on to the scene and are shaking up the industry. Many are backed by deep-pocketed private equity firms, which are sitting on record sums of dry powder. So far, more than $12bn of private equity money has been pumped into offshore oil and gas assets in the UK North Sea that had gone unloved by the oil majors.
The North Sea is fertile ground for private equity-owned companies. With assets on the block from the likes of US majors Chevron and ConocoPhillips, another $13bn of private equity money is expected to be pumped into the industry this year.
One of the biggest factors behind the sea change? Regulatory changes that allow buyers to offset future decommissioning costs with tax relief.