Rex’s Lime boosts its stake in Repsol’s North Sea oil field

Lime Petroleum, a Norwegian subsidiary of Singapore’s Rex International, has increased its interest in an oil field operated by Repsol Norge, a subsidiary of Spain’s Repsol, in the North Sea off the coast of Norway.

Lime confirmed the agreement for OKEA’s 15% interest in September 2024 to raise its stake in the producing Yme field to 25% for a post-tax consideration of $15.65 million. The field was on a 20-year hiatus after production ground to a halt in 2001, before being put back into operation nearly three years ago.

According to OKEA, the sale of its 15% interest has been completed, with the effective date of the transaction being January 1, 2024. This follows the approval from the relevant Norwegian authorities; thus, all related obligations, including decommissioning costs, have been transferred to Lime.

In addition, the firm will pay OKEA a post-tax consideration of $9.2 million in 2027, which will be repaid to Rex’s subsidiary in four 25% tranches upon completion of four pre-defined stages of abandonment of the field.

The first oil at the Yme field was achieved in October 2021, twenty years after the field was last on stream and months after the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) granted Repsol consent for the oil production start-up in August 2021.

Located in production licenses PL 316 and PL 316B on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS), the Yme field lies in the southeastern part of the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, 130 kilometers northeast of the Ula field in the water depth of 100 meters.

Encompassing two separate main structures, Gamma and Beta, which are 12 kilometers apart, the field’s reservoirs are in sandstone of the Middle Jurassic age in the Sandnes Formation, at a depth of 3,150 meters. Originally discovered in 1987, the production at Yme did not start until 1996.

After production ceased in 2001, since the field’s operation was no longer regarded as profitable, Yme was redeveloped and put into production in 2021. As a result, the field is producing between gross 20,000 and 25,000 boepd, following the completion of the drilling of development wells in the second quarter of 2024.

The new development project entailed the engineering, procurement, and installation of a new wellhead module on top of the existing facilities, the modifications and upgrading of the Maersk Inspirer mobile offshore drilling and production unit before installation in the field, and subsequent hook-up to existing wells and installations on the seabed offshore.

Repsol took over the day-to-day operations of the Yme Inspirer jack-up rig on behalf of the Yme license following a deal with Havila, which agreed to lease and sell the rig to the Yme field license for a price tag of $373 million. 

The current list of the Yme field’s license partners includes Repsol Norge (55%, operator), PGNiG Upstream Norway (20%), and Lime (25%).

OKEA recently got the Norwegian government’s blessing to move forward with its plan for the development and operation (PDO) of an oil and gas field in the North Sea off the coast of Norway, which will be tied back to an existing platform.