Norway's Statoil ASA (STO) has agreed to pay $15 million for First Oil's 24% stake in the British license of the Alfa Sentral natural gas and condensate field, the Norwegian company said in a statement on Oct. 2.

The Alfa Sentral reservoir crosses the British-Norwegian offshore border.

"A final investment decision is planned for late 2016 with production start-up in 2020," Statoil said, adding that the plan is to tie the field in to its Sleipner Field on the Norwegian side of the North Sea.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2015.