Chevron Sells Selected North Sea Interests

abarrelfull wrote on 30 Apr 2013 20:52
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July 30 1996

Chevron today announced the sale of its interests in four producing oil fields located in the northern section of the North Sea to Oryx U.K. Energy Co. The interests were held by Chevron U.K. Ltd. and include the Lyell, Hutton, Murchison and Ninian oil fields.

Richard Matzke, president of Chevron Overseas Petroleum Inc., which is responsible for the company's upstream operations outside the United States and Canada, said "Chevron accepted the offer from Oryx because the mature North Sea fields no longer fit the company's long-term strategies, and together represented less than 10 percent of the total value of Chevron's interests in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS)."

Robert Connon, managing director of Chevron Europe, pointed out that the sale of these assets allows the company to focus its resources on developing a new generation of UKCS assets to secure Chevron's long-term future in the United Kingdom.

Connon said the sale also includes Chevron's interests in the Columba B field, the Brent and Ninian pipeline systems, the Sullom Voe terminal, and some exploration acreage. Chevron U.K. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Corp., will retain its interest in the Statfjord field. Until the new operator is officially named, Chevron will continue as interim operator of Ninian.

"Chevron operated Ninian even before the first oil began to flow to the platform in 1978," noted Connon, adding that Chevron "is proud of its history and operations at Ninian and attributes much of the company's success in the United Kingdom to the foundations established at Ninian."

"We will now be better positioned to concentrate our resources on progressing a newer generation of assets, which currently include our operations at Alba, Britannia and Clair," said Connon. "These assets, in part, will serve as our foundation for future growth." Connon added that Chevron has exciting opportunities west of the Shetland Islands and west of Ireland, and indicated that the company's financial resources could now be redirected to these new areas.

Notes to editors:

The Ninian field lies in blocks 3/3 and 3/8, approximately 100 miles east of Shetland. The field is the third largest oil field discovered in UK waters and began production at the end of 1978. Current production averages about 55,000 barrels of oil a day.
Ninian is the entry point for oil into the Ninian/Sullom Voe pipeline, which also carries crude oil from four other UK oil fields: Alwyn North and Dunbar (Total), Heather (Unocal) and Magnus (BP).

Through separate processing arrangements Ninian is the host facility for two subsea satellite oil fields - Lyell (Oryx) and Strathspey (Texaco).
Oil from the Columba 'D' Terrace (Ranger) is produced from Ninian Southern platform.

Previous ownership of the Ninian field:

• Chevron U.K. Limited (Operator) 23.63%
• Murphy Petroleum Limited 13.82%
• Oryx U.K. Energy Company 29.54%
• Ranger Oil (U.K.) Limited 15.81%
• Sands North Sea Limited 4.25%
• Sun Oil Britain Limited 12.94%

Details of Chevron's equity interests and block numbers prior to the sale:

FIELD EQUITY INTEREST %

• Murchison 25.93
• Hutton 22.17
• Lyell 33.33
• Ninian 23.63
• Columba B 17.60

BLOCK EQUITY INTEREST %

• 211/19a 33.33
• 211/28a (Area 1/2) 33.33/22.23
• 3/2 33.33
• 3/3 33.17
• 3/7a 17.25
• 3/7b 29.85
• 3/7c 29.85
• 3/8c 100.00
• 3/13a 87.24

• Chevron Sells Selected North Sea Interests

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