RockRose Energy buying 20pc stake Arran field development

Independent oil and gas company RockRose Energy has signed a sale and purchase agreement to acquire a 20.43% interest in blocks 23/11a, 23/16b and 23/16c, it announced on Thursday, which contain the Arran field in the UK Central North Sea, from Dana Petroleum for a nominal consideration.

The London-listed firm said it would fund its share of the planned development of the Arran field through its existing cash flow.

It said the acquisition would add a further 5.7 mmboe 2P Reserves to RockRose, and 3,500 boepd of initial production to the group post development.

RockRose would be partnered in the field by Shell UK, Zennor North Sea and Dyas UK, with the board confirming the acquisition did not involve operatorship of the development.

It anticipated that the field would be developed as a subsea tie-back to the Shell-operated Shearwater platform, with the field development plan to be filed with the OGA by end of September 2018.

Completion of the transaction remained subject to OGA and other usual partner consents, though the company said it was not aware of any reasons for that to be withheld.

“This is an exciting addition to RockRose's portfolio providing a near-term development opportunity which adds significantly to the group's reserves and future production,” said RockRose executive chairman Andrew Austin.

“This once again demonstrates the group's ability to quickly access, progress and execute transactions providing an invaluable first mover advantage when seeking highly value accretive transactions.”