Polish energy group Orlen will take over KUFPEC Norway, the Norwegian division of Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC). The value of the transaction is USD 445 million, the company said in a statement today. Orlen is the owner of Czech Unipetrol, among others.
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The Polish group operates in Norway under the name PGNiG Upstream Norway. The takeover of the Kuwaiti firm’s Norwegian operations will increase its natural gas production in Norway by a third, to more than four billion cubic meters a year.
The acquired assets include interests in five fields already operated by Orlen. The gas produced from these fields will be transported to Poland via the Baltic Pipe pipeline. The pipeline runs from the Norwegian North Sea fields via Denmark to Poland and increases the diversification of gas supplies in Central Eastern Europe and the Baltic States. Poland’s PGNiG has booked about 80 percent of its capacity.
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The transaction is expected to be completed later this year, subject to approval by Norwegian authorities. Upon completion of the acquisition, Orlen will hold 94 licences on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, becoming the fifth largest licensee operating in the area.
According to the strategy approved earlier this year, Orlen plans to invest PLN 90 billion by the end of the decade to expand oil and gas production.
source: ÄŒTK
