Repsol SA and UK based Ineos Group Holdings are showing interest in US oil major ExxonMobil’s selling off of oilfields in the Gulf of Mexico.
According to a Bloomberg article, the assets could be worth as much as $1.5 billion. The article said the sources of the information used in the report did not want to be named as the talks are private.
It said that a sale to Spain’s Repsol would expand its existing position in the prolific offshore region, “while for Ineos it would mark its debut as an oil and gas producer in the Gulf.”
A sale agreement could come within a month, although no deal has been struck. According to the article, ExxonMobil, Repsol SA and Ineos all declined to comment on the talks.
The report explained that oil majors regularly shed assets “as they become older and less material to their large balance sheets.”
Both ExxonMobil and Repsol have active interests in the South American country of Guyana, which is emerging as the newest oil and gas hot spot due to the prolific nature of the offshore Stabroek Block for which ExxonMobil is operator and in which 13 commercial finds have been made so far. Drilling – both exploratory and for production – continues in the 6.6 million acres Stabroek Block.
Repsol has a 70% stake in the Kanuku block offshore Guyana, covering 5,164 km2 in the Atlantic Ocean within the EEZ of Guyana while Tullow holds the remaining 30% interest in the block. Exploratory drilling is expected to commence in the third quarter of 2019.
