Jadestone becomes owner of BP’s stake in Australian oil-producing fields

AIM-listed and Singapore-headquartered oil and gas player Jadestone Energy has received approval from Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA) for the title transfer regarding the acquisition of BP’s stake in a Woodside Energy-operated project, encompassing oil-producing fields offshore Australia.

Back in July 2022, Jadestone revealed a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) for the acquisition of BP’s non-operated 16.67 per cent working interest in the Cossack, Wanaea, Lambert, and Hermes (CWLH) oil fields development, known as the North West Shelf oil project. 

A few months later, the Singapore-based firm confirmed the completion of the acquisition, following the satisfaction of all conditions precedent, and disclosed its intention to apply to the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator for approval related to the dealing and registration of the petroleum titles regarding the acquired interest.

Located within four production licences (WA-3-L, WA-11-L, WA-13-L and WA-16-L) in the North Carnarvon basin offshore Australia, the project comprises 13 subsea wells producing through the FPSO Ohka, which was installed at the fields in 2011 and has 60,000 bbls/d of oil processing capacity, along with water handling and gas processing/reinjection facilities.

As Jadestone has now received approval from NOPTA, which was a key condition to drawing the reserves-based loan (RBL) announced in April 2023, Jadestone is currently getting this sorted with several banks while continuing to progress its RBL workstreams.

Paul Blakeley, Jadestone’s President and CEO, previously explained: The RBL would restore our capital flexibility and even though we maintain a high level of reinvestment in the business, the highly cash generative nature of our portfolio, particularly after Akatara comes on stream, should see us approaching a net cash position around the end of 2024 based on expected operating performance and current oil prices. Importantly, the RBL will also facilitate the funding of further acquisitions of producing assets.“

In an update on Friday, 19 May 2023, Jadestone announced the signing of a new $200 million reserves-based lending facility with a group of four international banks. This also provides for an uncommitted accordion of $160 million, subject to incremental availability of bank debt.

“This facility forms an important stepping stone as we focus on delivering our key growth objectives including infill drilling in Malaysia and executing the Akatara gas development project. Production from Akatara will bring significant incremental debt capacity when integrated into the RBL facility, and the ramp-up of Akatara’s cash flow is also projected to drive a deleveraging of our balance sheet,” added Blakeley.

Furthermore, Jadestone highlights that the RBL facility, which has a four-year tenor, will first be used to repay the $50 million interim facility, which will be fully drawn on 22 May 2023.

“While we remain focused on operational performance and delivery of guidance from our producing portfolio, additional acquisitions of producing assets are also on our horizon, in an environment that is increasingly active, and the RBL may support this too,” concluded Blakeley.