(epbr) Seacrest Petróleo, an independent oil company focused on mature fields in Brazil, raised US$ 260 million with the IPO, on the Oslo Stock Exchange, in Norway. With cash strengthened by the share offering, the company plans to triple its oil and gas production in the Espírito Santo Basin by 2025.
In recent years, the company bought the Cricaré and Norte Capixaba clusters from Petrobras, which have 31 onshore fields and a production of 7,000 barrels/day.
The Capixaba Norte cluster also includes a terminal with the capacity to store 500,000 barrels. The deal, however, is still pending completion.
The president of Seacrest Petróleo, Michael Stewart, said in a note that the company hopes to become the third largest producer of oil and gas on the Brazilian onshore, in terms of reserves and production.
“There is significant potential for value creation in our uniquely integrated production assets through a series of low-risk redevelopment activities, which are expected to triple production by 2025. Our high-margin cash flow production allows us to grow and plan the return of capital to shareholders in the short term”, said the executive, in a note.
The fields acquired by the oil company have estimated in-place volumes of 1.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent and certified 2P (proved plus probable) reserves of 140 million barrels of oil equivalent.
In all, Seacrest Petróleo traded 443 million new shares.
A highlight of the operation, the Mercuria Energy group allocated US$ 80 million and will hold 30% of the oil company’s capital.
Independent oil companies invest in onshore
Seacrest’s investment plan, to increase production in Espírito Santo, is part of a broader movement to revitalize mature fields formerly operated by Petrobras, sold by Petrobras to independent producers in recent years.
Wood Mackenzie estimates that these independent operators will invest US$10 billion by 2027 to increase production from the assets purchased from Petrobras in recent years. The forecast is that these assets will reach a peak of 485,000 barrels/day in five years.
The consultancy’s survey includes production projects from the companies 3R Petroleum, BW Energy, Enauta, Eneva, Grupo Cobra, Karoon, Origin Energia, Perenco, PetroReconcavo, PRIO, Seacrest Capital and Trident Energy.
It predicts that these companies should increase by 980 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) the total oil in the remaining reserves of these assets — a significant volume for those who are investing in projects to revitalize production.
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