Independent Oil and Gas Plc signed a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with Verus Petroleum Ltd. to conditionally acquire all of the shares of Oyster Petroleum Ltd., a Verus subsidiary, Independent said June 13.

The acquisition is conditional upon Verus completing the transfer of certain licenses into Oyster; these licenses have 2C recoverable resources of 320.7 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas.

The acquisition’s effective date is June 30, and the acquisition is conditional upon the approval of the UK Oil and Gas Authority.

Under the SPA, which was signed June 10, Independent will acquire Oyster’s shares for an initial consideration of 1 million British pounds, which will be funded by draw-downs on Independent’s available loan facilities.

Oyster will hold 100% of Block 49/21a (License P039); 100% of Block 49/21d (License P2122); 100% of Block 48/25b (License P130); and 100% of Block 49/21c (License P1915), which are all in the U.K. Southern North Sea.

These licenses contain the Vulcan East, Vulcan North West and Vulcan South fields.

Independent’s 2C recoverable resources will increase by 320.7 Bcf, or 53.45 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBoe). The combined 2P reserves and 2C resources could increase to 102.3 MMBoe.

​The Vulcan satellites, which require no further appraisal, lie 30 kilometers (km)-45 km east of the Blythe Field, which IOG will own, pending completion of the Blythe acquisition.

Vulcan East has a suspended well requiring decommissioning; this well was independently estimated to cost 3 million British pounds.

Offshore