By Christina Zander
STOCKHOLM--Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil ASA (STL.OS)
said Thursday it has signed agreements with Repsol SA (REP.MC)
acquiring a 10% equity share in the Tayrona licence and a 20%
equity share in the Guajira Offshore 1 licence, offshore
Colombia.
Statoil said that with the recent award of the COL4 licence in
the 2014 Colombia licensing round and the farm-in agreements with
Repsol, it is well positioned in deep-water offshore Colombia.
"We are gaining access to a vast underexplored frontier area
through early access at scale, which is in line with Statoil's
exploration strategy," said Nick Maden, senior vice president for
Statoil's exploration activities in the Western hemisphere.
Petrobras, with 40%, operates the Tayrona licence, which
includes the Orca-1 exploration well. Repsol has 20% of the licence
after farming down 10% to Statoil. The remaining 30% is held by
Ecopetrol. The licence covers an area of 16,500 square kilometres
and is located in water depths of 50 to 1,500 metres.
At 1025 GMT Statoil shares traded down 1% at NOK180.15
Write to Christina Zander at christina.zander@wsj.com
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