PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Oil and gas producer Woodside has finalised an agreement with major BP over a farm-in offshore the Scotian basin, in Canada.
Woodside on Thursday told shareholders that it would acquire a 20% participating interest in four exploration licenses in the Scotian basin, while BP would remain operator over the project area.
The licenses covered some 14 000 km2, in water depths ranging from 500 m to 3 600 m. BP was expected to start drilling exploration wells in 2017.
Woodside CEO Peter Coleman told shareholders that the farm-in was an opportunity to explore an emerging basin with oil potential, in line with the company’s international exploration strategy.
“This acreage was high graded as part of our disciplined study of the Atlantic margins and it will complement our position in Morocco,” Coleman said.
The oil and gas major has been on a major acquisition trail in 2014, acquiring interests in assets in Morocco, Gabon, Cameroon and Tanzania. Earlier this week, the company also spent $2.75-billion to acquire a 13% stake in the multi-billion dollar Wheatstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, as well as interests in the Balnaves oil project and the Kitimat LNG project.
The agreement with BP was subject to government and regulatory approvals.