Wintershall Completes Takeover of Vega Field in the North Sea

German independent oil and gas firm Wintershall announced Wednesday that it has taken over the operatorship of the Vega subsea oil and gas field offshore Norway from Statoil.

Wintershall said that Vega is the first subsea tie-in field operated by it in Norway and that the transaction means it now operates two production fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf; the other field is Brage.

The Vega field is located within the Norwegian zone of the North Sea and is tied back to the Gjøa platform – some 17 miles to the east. Wintershall now holds a 55.6-percent working interest in the field with Petoro, Bayerngas, GDF Suez and Idemitsu holding 28.3 percent, 7.3 percent, 4.4 percent and 4.4 percent respectively.

The takeover of Vega is part of a deal with Statoil that was made in December 2014. By the acquisition of additional shares in the producing Vega field and the nearby Gjøa field Wintershall has established itself as one of the larger producers on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

The company currently produces more than 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in Norway. With the further purchase of shares in the Aasta Hansteen gas development and the Polarled pipeline project as part of the same deal, Wintershall said that it has strengthened its strategic partnership with Statoil and reaffirmed its long-term commitment to Norway.

Wintershall Norge Managing Director Bernd Schrimpf commented in a company statement:

"Becoming the operator of Vega means that we are building up our expertise as a subsea operator on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Subsea fields are already a vital part of the oil and gas infrastructure in Norway and we believe they will grow in importance. With Vega we are gaining the experience that will be crucial in operating our future own developments, like the Maria Field in the Norwegian Sea."