Seacrest Capital Seeks More Norway, UK Oil Deals

Oil and gas-focused private equity firm Seacrest Capital is planning more offshore deals in Norway after buying stakes in two fields from Royal Dutch Shell (RYDAF) this week, and is also seeking deals in Britain, a partner at the company said on Friday.

Shell said on Wednesday it had agreed to sell its 45 percent interest in the Draugen field and 12 percent interest in Gjoa to OKEA, an upstart Norwegian oil firm backed by Seacrest, for around $566 million.

The deal will give OKEA net daily production of around 22,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, as well as a cash flow which can be invested in further projects.

"We expect to be able to announce more projects in Norway, possibly by end of this year or beginning of 2019," Seacrest partner Paul Murray, an OKEA board member, told Reuters.

He said the company was primarily looking at developing discoveries which have been well appraised, including a few where plans for development and operations (PDOs) have already been submitted to regulators.

Asked about prospects of listing OKEA's shares, he said it was "quite possible", though the immediate focus was on implementing the deal with Shell and getting access to more assets.

"If an IPO would be appropriate to raise capital in 2019 or 2020, then we will look at it," Murray said.

Separately, Seacrest was looking to invest in three to four producing projects off Britain, he added.

Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis