Statoil has brought ex-BP staffers into one of its exploration licences offshore Angola where drilling is due to start soon on a presalt play thought to be similar to that found offshore Brazil.

The company has secured a deal which reduces its drilling risk by farming down part of its equity in one of its two operated presalt blocks in the Kwanzi basin. Announcing the deal with a joint venture between White Rose Energy – formed by ex-BP personnel and Genel Energy which also has ex-BP directors – Statoil has agreed to farm down 15% equity in Block 39 to the White Rose-Genel joint venture WRG.

This deal leaves Statoil as operator of the block with a 40% interest, with the other partners being Sonangol (30%) and Total (15%).

Statoil also holds a 55% operated interest in neighbouring Block 38, where WRG has secured another 15% stake from China Sonangol International Holdings Limited. Sonangol holds the remaining 30% equity in that block.

Both blocks were awarded to the Norwegian company as operator in 2011 and are regarded as frontier presalt plays.
Drilling in Block 39 is due to start in this quarter, with the high-impact Dilolo-1 well, Statoil has said. This follows interpretation of data from a 26,300 sq km (10,151 sq miles) 3-D survey – said to be the world’s largest – which was completed in January 2013, covering blocks 22, 25, 38, 39 and 40, funded by Statoil, BP and Total.

Gareth Burns, Statoil’s senior vice president for exploration strategy and business development spelled out the reasoning behind the WRG agreement: “The farm-down reflects the attractiveness of Statoil’s acreage in Angola and having WRG on board allows us to share exploration risk, while retaining a significant working interest.” He added that WRG would provide technical experience to a “challenging geological setting”.

White Rose says it aims to become a leading E&P company in Africa. It is chaired by former BP group chief executive Lord Browne. He is also a partner in investment group Riverstone Holdings, and two other Riverstone directors are also on the White Rose board. The company’s operations director is Tony Rose, previously commercial director for BP business development in the Middle East. The company’s chief executive is Jim Bradley, who also previously worked for BP and Petro-Canada. Another White Rose executive, Ralph Alexander, was a BP executive for its gas and power, and E&P divisions.

Genel’s chief executive is Tony Hayward. Hayward succeeded Browne as chief executive at BP in 2007 where he served until 2010. Genel’s chairman is Rodney Chase, who also held various executive positions within BP including deputy group chief executive. Another Genel executive is Graham Hearn, ex-chief executive of Enterprise Oil.

Offshore