Karoon to complete Brazilian oilfield takeover in October

Australian player Karoon Gas is expecting to close its acquisition of the Baúna field, located offshore Brazil, during October 2020.

Karoon presented the high bid in the process to acquire Petrobras’ 100 per cent operating interest in concession BM-S-40, which contains the producing Baúna light oil project, in July 2019.

The field is located in the shallow waters of the Santos Basin.

The transaction amount was $665 million, to be paid in two instalments: $49.9 million upon contract signature; and $615.1 million, before adjustments, on the closing date.

In July 2020, Karoon negotiated and agreed on a revised transaction to acquire the producing Baúna oil field.

The amendments to the sales and purchase agreement split the previously announced “headline” $665 million consideration into $380 million of “firm” consideration and $285 million of “contingent” consideration.

The transaction completion is subject to certain remaining conditions precedent under the sale and purchase agreement (SPA), including the following key outstanding third-party/regulatory conditions precedent: Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis (ANP) approval, and FPSO charter assignment.

In an update on Monday, Karoon said that significant progress has been made towards obtaining the ANP approval.

Karoon said it is addressing the ANP’s proposed form of approval and outstanding minor administrative issues relating to finalisation of the parent company guarantee provided by Karoon in favour of the ANP.

The FPSO charter assignment has also progressed and Karoon expects the documentation associated with this assignment to be finalised and ready for execution after ANP approval is received.

In light of this, Karoon is now aiming to complete the transaction in the last half of October 2020.

The effective date of the transaction remains 1 January 2019 such that the operating costs and revenues arising from Baúna will be captured in the adjustment to the purchase price.

Following the completion of the Baúna transaction, Karoon is preparing to market its first Baúna cargo.