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The deal includes the entirety of WA-271-P, which also contains the Vincent and Laverda discoveries.
Over the last 18 months, Mitsui – also half partners with Mitsubishi in a one-sixth stake in the North West Shelf LNG project – has provided a number of Australian explorers with exit strategies from their drilling success.
This latest acquisition backs up recent strategic moves into the Cliff Head, Yolla and Casino discoveries, and across the Tasman, buying a stake in the Kupe field. In the late 1990s it also bought into the Wandoo project.
The date of the transaction was January 1 this year, and will free up some handy capital as Woodside has extensive development commitments in Mauritania, the Gulf of Mexico, Bonaparte Basin and elsewhere in the Carnarvon basin. The company is expected to commit about A$4 billion in expenditure over the next three-to-five years.
“Our recent announcement to develop the Enfield oil project, and favourable market conditions, enable Woodside to realise immediate value from the sale while still maintaining significant exposure to the long-term growth potential of the Greater Enfield Area,” said Woodside’s acting Chief Executive Officer, Keith Spence.
“Our recent announcement to develop the Enfield oil project, and favourable market conditions, enable Woodside to realise immediate value from the sale while still maintaining significant exposure to the long-term growth potential of the Greater Enfield Area,” he said.
Spence said Woodside was delighted to welcome Mitsui as a joint venturer, particularly as Mitsui brought particular experience in the Japanese oil market where most of the Enfield crude would be sold.
“Mitsui, one of Japan’s largest conglomerates, has an extensive energy group involved in international oil and gas exploration and production, marketing, oil refining and LNG operations,” Spence said.
“Woodside has a long-established relationship with Mitsui through its involvement in the Woodside-operated North West Shelf Venture and this transaction allows us to extend that relationship.”
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