Equinor, the Norwegian oil major, has agreed to sell its presence on the Bakken field in the U.S., in the states of North Dakota and Montana, to Grayson Mill Energy and EnCap Investments, the company announced this Wednesday.
Firstly, the sell was closed to an amount of $900 million. It considers the selling of Equinor’s operated and non-operated acreage, which is around 242,000 net acres and includes its associated midstream assets.
Secondly, the acreages sold have a net production of 480,000 barrels of equivalent oil; according to the entitlement production of 2020’s fourth quarter.
Moreover, Equinor’s Marketing and Trading unit will enter into a term purchase agreement for crude offtake with Grayson Mill Energy.
According to the company’s statement, the transaction was agreed since January 1, 2021, but it was announced just yet, and it is still subject to approval and regulatory review.
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Equinor improved Bakken’s CO2 footprint
About the workers of Bakker field, Equinor also underlines that all field employees, as well as a significant number of the support teams working on and for Bakken assets will have the opportunity to join Grayson Mill Energy.
“Equinor is also optimizing its oil and gas portfolio to strengthen profitability and make it more robust for the future;” also said Anders Opedal, Equinor’s CEO. “By divesting our Bakken position, we are realizing proceeds that can be deployed towards more competitive assets in our portfolio; also enabling us to deliver increased value creation for our shareholders.”
“Over the past few years, we have improved the safety, cost efficiency and CO2 intensity of the Bakken assets significantly; consequently, I am confident Grayson Mill Energy will continue on this path,” he concluded.
Finally, Al Cook, executive VP of Equinor’s Development & Production International, remarked. “We are taking action to improve the profitability of Equinor’s international oil and gas business. Today’s announcement on the exit of our Bakken assets is also an important step in this process. In addition, we have worked closely with Grayson Mill Energy to preserve jobs and to ensure the transfer of expertise in the best possible way.”
