Enegi Oil Restructures Marginal Fields Unit

Junior explorer Enegi Oil announced Thursday a restructuring of its ABT Oil & Gas (ABTOG) subsidiary that is developing innovative production systems aimed at making marginal fields commercial. The firm also provided an update on its Fyne field development in the North Sea.

ABTOG will now consist of two businesses: ABTOG Equity Co. and Marginal Field Development Co. ABTOG Equity will seek to acquire hydrocarbon interest that it will develop in conjunction with its partners, while Margin Field Development will provide production buoy solutions to potential partners.

Enegi said that this restructuring of ABTOG will enable partner companies to become aligned to field equity risk, service and solution provision or an integrated model depending on their own risk profile and business model.

"The restructuring of ABTOG has been arrived at after engagement with industry at all levels including operators, service providers and financiers. Its adoption will create a structure better aligned to the industry enabling us to maximize the potential of ABTOG," Enegi CEO Alan Minty commented in a company statement.

Meanwhile, Enegi said that the development of the North Sea's Fyne field – which Enegi farmed into with partner AB Technology for a 50-percent stake in July 2013 – is continuing in line with expectations.

Enegi and Antrim Energy, the operator, submitted a new Environmental Statement to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change at the end of March. Enegi said this was a "key milestone" in the development of the field, with the next major step being the submission and approval of the field development plan (FDP).

Enegi also pointed out that the production buoy concept originally proposed for Fyne has been altered to a self-installing floating tower (SIFT) solution that has been made available to ABTOG through a strategic partnership with GMC. 

Enegi said the need to switch to the SIFT solution was anticipated by management towards the end of 2013 but the final decision was taken recently as part of discussions with DECC regarding the FDP and reflects both the particular engineering complexities of the Fyne Field and the fact that using the production buoy solution would have required reliance upon the provision of long-lead time, subsea equipment.

The firm emphasized that the strong returns from the field originally anticipated from the production buoy concept remain unaltered as a result of the change in the development solution.