Wintershall Dea is divesting its ownership of the Brage field and transferring the operatorship to the mid-late life specialist operator OKEA.
In the next chapter of Wintershall Dea's story in Norway the company will build on its strength as one of the largest subsea operators on the shelf.
'Norway is and remains an important core region for Wintershall Dea's production in our global portfolio,' said Dawn Summers, Chief Operating Officer at Wintershall Dea. 'With the sale of our interests in Brage and Ivar Aasen, we are further strengthening our focus in Norway on gas production. Here we already have a strong position in the country, and our major projects Dvalin and Njord, that are planned to come on stream by the end of 2022, will add further gas volumes that secure energy supply in Europe', Summers added.
As part of the agreement, OKEA purchases Wintershall Dea's 35.2% share in the Brage field and 6.46% share in the Ivar Aasen field, as well as 6% of the Nova development for EUR108 million (NOK 1.1 billion). In addition, payments linked to the fulfilment of certain conditions are part of the transaction.
FOCUS ON FURTHER GAS VOLUMES
'We remain one of the biggest producers in Norway, and one of the largest exporters of gas, while also robustly shaping our business for the opportunities we see coming on the shelf,' said Managing Director at Wintershall Dea Norge, Michael Zechner. 'Through this agreement, we have not only realised value for our assets and exited the operatorship of Brage in favour of a company which specialises in mid-late life fields, we have also gained a valuable partner in our operated Nova license', Zechner underlined. In Norway, Wintershall Dea will put an even stronger focus on exploration, development, and production in core areas, to continuously develop a low-carbon asset portfolio and position the company within carbon management and hydrogen.
Wintershall Dea's total production in Norway was 159,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2021, more than half of which was natural gas. Volumes from upcoming projects Nova, Njord and Dvalin will add around 70,000 to 80,000 boe/d. Production from Brage and Ivar Aasen totalled around 6,000 boe per day.
STRENGTHENING EFFICIENT AND LOW-CARBON SUBSEA PRODUCTION
Wintershall Dea is moving forward on the Norwegian Continental Shelf as a leading subsea operator with a focus on gas and carbon management projects. The company is committed to having net zero upstream activities by 20301 by increasingly focusing on assets with a low carbon footprint and strict emissions management. The gas-weighted company is already the third largest subsea operator by number of fields in Norway and is now also pursuing carbon management opportunities on the shelf.
Subject to customary approval by authorities the deal is expected to be completed in Q4 2022. The transaction will then be effective retroactively from 1.1.2022.
About Wintershall Dea
Wintershall Dea is Europe's leading independent natural gas and oil company with more than 120 years of experience as an operator and project partner along the entire E&P value chain. The company with German roots and headquarters in Kassel and Hamburg explores for and produces gas and oil in 13 countries worldwide in an efficient and responsible manner. With activities in Europe, Russia, Latin America and the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa), Wintershall Dea has a global upstream portfolio and, with its participation in natural gas transport, is also active in the midstream business.
As a European gas and oil company, we support the EU's 2050 carbon neutrality target. As our contribution we have set ourselves ambitious targets: We want to be net zero across our entire upstream operations - both operated and non-operated - by 2030. This includes Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect) greenhouse gas emissions on an equity share basis. In addition Wintershall Dea will bring methane emissions intensity below 0.1 per cent by 2025 and maintain zero routine flaring of associated gas in its operations. The climate goals are to be achieved through portfolio optimization, emissions reduction through more energy efficiency, investments in nature-based compensation solutions and in future technologies such as hydrogen and CCS. You can find more about this in our Sustainability Report.
Wintershall Dea was formed from the merger of Wintershall Holding GmbH and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG, in 2019. Today, the company employs around 2,500 people worldwide from almost 60 nations.
Contact:
Tel: +47 922 37 069
Email: kjetil.hjertvik@wintershalldea.com
OKEA ASA 
