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Abu Dhabi’s Taqa to exit its stake in Atrush oil field: The Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) will sell its 47.4% stake in the Atrush oil field in the Kurdistan region of Iraq to Canadian energy firm ShaMaran Petroleum subsidiary General Exploration Partners (GEP), according to an ADX disclosure (pdf). The exit will be executed via Taqa’s wholly-owned subsidiary Taqa Atrush BV, which owns the stake in the field, for an undisclosed sum.
ShaMaran is upping its stake: The transaction will be carried out over two stages as part of ShaMaran’s consolidation plan in the region, according to a statement (pdf) by ShaMaran. In the first stage, Cayman Islands-based GEP will acquire the Atrush field operator, Taqa Atrush BV (TABV), which holds Taqa’s 47.4% stake, raising ShaMaran’s stake in the field from 27.6% to 50%. Following the acquisition, the second step will be for ShaMaran to transfer 25% working interest and operatorship to GEP2, a new entity wholly-owned by GEP by selling GEP2 to HKN Energy, ShaMaran’s partner in the Kurdish Sarsang oil field.
Ownership structure: After closing the transaction, GEP will own a 50% stake, HKN Energy will hold a 25% indirect stake and will act as the main operator of the field, and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will own 25%.
Background: Taqa bought a 53.2% operating stake in the oil field for USD 600 mn (AED 2.2 bn) from GEP in 2013, marking Taqa’s maiden energy project in the MENA region.
About Atrush: Located approximately 85 km northwest of the Kurdish capital, Erbil, the Atrush oil field reached a record daily production capacity of some 45k barrels per day in 2019, according to ShaMaran’s website. Discovered in 2011, the field is estimated to hold reserves of around 40 bn oil barrels.
