North Energy confirmed Thursday that it has signed a deal to sell a five-percent holding in Norwegian Sea production licenses 591 and 591B to Lime Petroleum Norway – a subsidiary of Malaysia's Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad.

Hibiscus said in a separate statement that the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, means that its portfolio of licenses in Norway will increase to 16.

North's stake in the licenses will reduce to 15 percent, while the operator of the licenses – Tullow Oil Norge – will see no change to its 80-percent interest.

Both licenses are located in water depth of some 984 feet in the Halten area of the Norwegian Sea, and contain the Zumba prospect.

North has estimated that its original 20-percent stake in the prospect would potentially translates into gross mean, un-risked resources of 184 million barrels of oil equivalent, and net mean, risked resources of 16 mmboe after applying a probability of success of 43 percent.

Hibiscus decided to make the acquisitions after performing in-depth technical evaluations that included using its proprietary Rex Virtual Drilling technology on the licenses. Rex Virtual Drilling is a software-based tool that relies on the phenomenon of resonance in acquired seismic data to detect hydrocarbon deposits and predict oil quality.

Exploration drilling is expected to begin in the license areas during the first half of 2015.

Hibiscus Managing Director Dr Kenneth Pereira commented in a statement:

"Even though our net interest in these licenses [is] small, we have an opportunity to participate in a project with a reputable operator and drill an exploration well in the next one year in Norway. Each time we collaborate with a new party on a project, we also have an opportunity to showcase the Rex Virtual Drilling technology to a different audience.

"Such efforts will, in the long term, provide us with entry to larger projects."

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