RE: Premier Oil /. Chevron North Sea14 Jan 2019 11:33
It's a bit more than speculation.
Having attended various AGMs, I've had confirmed from various different sources that, assuming the expected positive Zama-1 appraisal, PMO will continue its North Sea production and would prefer to sell its interests in Zama-1, but for the time being, continue their Mexican exploration until what's there is clearer.
Zama-1 appraisal will initially provide the necessary collateral to obtain the final parts of SL funding, until eventually Zama-1 is "monetised".
So in that respect, there is a desire to sell a Latin American asset and possibly the rest in due course.
SL and their FI interests are not considered "Latin American" assets, even though they're in that part of the World.
PMO's preferred route is to develop SL, so that it is more in control of its destiny than it would be in Mexico, exploiting proven, quality assets, using technology it's already using for Catcher in an area with benign tax and government policies.
PMO still has a lot of work to do and still has to observe strict environmental regulations, post Deepwater Horizon, but things are moving in the right direction, with contracts being lined-up and sites identified in the FI.
Brexit isn't helping, as UK government "bandwidth" is stretched to the limit, so things like Export Credit funding are taking longer, but in any case, would still have to await the Zama-1 appraisal outcome to agree any final sum.
If there are any dark clouds, they're another collapse in the PoO and a possible change of Government in Argentina, later this year, returning to the Peronists, if the electorate aren't satisfied with Macri's economic reform progress.
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