NAM to Divest Several Offshore Assets

Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) intends to market a number of its offshore licenses, consisting of producing fields in the NOGAT area on the Dutch continental shelf. The producing fields are L2-FA, L2-FB, L5-FA, L12-FC and L15-FA, and the combined oil and gas producing F3-FB field.

The fields and facilities to be divested are located in an area of the North Sea to the northwest of Den Helder and are interconnected by the NOGAT pipeline, through which natural gas is transported to the NAM operated processing plant at Den Helder. NAM also intends to divest its share in NOGAT.

The intended transfer of ownership is part of NAM’s long-term strategy. This step will not lead to a reduction in overall employment, due to the fact that this will occur within the framework of the Netherlands Transfer of Undertakings Act (Wet Overgang Ondernemingen, WOO), safeguarding the employment of the 20-30 staff involved. Consultations regarding the sale are presently ongoing with the NAM Staff Council.

"Like every healthy company, we regularly review our portfolio to ensure that the assets we own fit our company strategy," said NAM Managing Director Roelf Venhuizen. "The NAM of course will continue to operate the Groningen-field. Further we will continue to produce and develop our small-fields portfolio for as long as we can add value. The divestment of the mentioned fields and facilities is completely aligned with NAM’s long-term strategy and as they are in a mature phase of their life cycle, they may have more value to third parties than to NAM."

The intended sale does not imply that NAM will discontinue its North Sea operations, as is evidenced by the fact that NAM continues to make substantial investments in its offshore activities. An example is the current further development of the L9 block, involving a total investment of several hundred million Euros.