Tamarind buys rest of Tui stake (New Zealand)

After buying 57.5 percent of the Tui fields offshore New Zealand from AWE, Tamarind Management has now bought the remaining 42.5 percent interest from New Zealand Oil and Gas (NZOG) and Pan Pacific Petroleum (PPP).

To remind, the Malaysia-based Tamarind entered into a $1.5 million deal with AWE back in December of 2016 for all of the outstanding shares of AWE New Zealand and AWE Taranaki Limited, which together owned 57.5 percent of Tui.

NZOG and PPP both said on Tuesday that Tamarind bought a 27.5 and 15 percent stake from the companies, respectively, to become the 100 percent owner of the Tui area fields.

PPP added that the deal entails the sale of all shares of the company’s subsidiary, WM Petroleum Limited (WMP), the company that owns the Tui oil fields stake. Tamarind will pay $400,000 for all of PPP’s shares in WMP and on completion of the transaction, PPP will make a net payment to Tamarind of $5.45 million in the form of cash and inventory. The effective date of the transaction is January 1, 2017.

The current value of the Tui oil fields in PPP books is at nil value in its balance sheet and has a restoration provision of $15.5 million. Upon completion of the transaction, Tamarind will inherit all the benefits and liabilities associated with Tui, including environmental, decommissioning, and abandonment obligations.

PPP’s Executive Director, Grant Womer, said: “PPP believes Tui is nearing the end of its economic life and the company had begun preparations to shut down operations within the next few years. We are pleased Tamarind are willing to introduce new ideas and ways of working to possibly prolong field life which would increase the economic returns to the broader New Zealand community.”

As far as NZOG’s stake goes, Tamarind will pay the company $750,000 in exchange for all shares in its Tui holding company, Stewart Petroleum.

Stewart Petroleum’s assets and liabilities include a 27.5 percent interest in the Tui fields, and inventory of $4.7 million of oil, also, working capital of $6 million will be transferred to Tamarind.

Identical to the agreement with PPP, the effective date of the transaction is January 1, 2017, and Tamarind will assume all field retirement obligations.

Ian Angell, MD of Tamarind, said: “While there is much discussion about field decommissioning, Tamarind is confident with the strength of the Tui operating team in New Plymouth, this area will have many years of remaining production.”

The Tui area oil fields comprise the Tui, Amokura and Pateke fields which are located approximately 50 kilometers off the coast of Taranaki, New Zealand. Production from each field is fed into the Tui gathering system and then into the FPSO vessel, the Umuroa.