RE: The Bahamas Government7 Nov 2018 14:46
A Bahamas-based oil explorer yesterday said it was now locked in joint venture talks with “multiple parties” after a “major global oil company” ended their exclusive negotiations.
Simon Potter, Bahamas Petroleum Company’s (BPC) chief executive, told Tribune Business that the end-August finish to the exclusivity period was no reflection on the company or the likelihood of discovering oil in Bahamian waters.
Reiterating his confidence in BPC’s project, Mr Potter said the company remained well-positioned to capitalise on increased exploration demand due to surging oil prices that yesterday closed just below $80 on the Brent crude index.
He added that the exclusivity period’s end had allowed BPC to restart talks with potential partners it had left in “abeyance”, and suggested this could benefit the oil explorer by promising to create a “more competitive” bidding environment.
Mr Potter said the $1m paid for the exclusivity by the unidentified “oil major”, together with funding previously raised, had “put $6m in the bank” over the past year to leave BPC on a “sound footing” financially.
While some observers will likely interpret the exclusivity end as a sign that BPC’s project will ultimately prove unsuccessful, the oil industry veteran indicated he was hardly losing sleep over the failure to pin down a lasting deal.
“They paid us $1m and are not paying us any more. It’s just the normal cut and thrust of commercial negotiations,” Mr Potter said of the exclusivity period’s end. He added that BPC had hired Macquarie, a Canadian investment bank that specialises in the oil and gas industry, to advise it on talks with other prospective partners.
“The reason we brought them in is that we’re working on a whole range of companies rather than just one,” the BPC chief executive explained. “It’s much better for you. It’s a more competitive environment, and possibly a much more competitive deal for us.
“The rocks are still there, the data is still there. It [the exclusivity end] doesn’t change anything, and the commercial environment as the oil price strengthens gets better and better. With the advisers on board we have access to a much greater range of potential partners.
“I cannot name them, and don’t want to discuss specifics about commercial negotiations and things like that, but we’ve opened negotiations with a number of different parties, some of whom have been interested previously. It’s multiple parties.”
http://www.tribune242.com/news/2018/sep/20/oil-explorer-shrugs-end-exclusive-talks/
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